For over forty years, I’ve been eating Fritos Corn Chips. I don’t have them every day, every week, or even every month, but I do eat Fritos Scoops several times a year with various party dips. Most corn chips are made with only three ingredients – corn, oil and salt. Most of the products are gluten-free whether they’re labeled that way or not. However, until recently, I’ve never found anything that tasted like Fritos Corn Chips except for the Fritos brand.
On a recent shopping trip at Trader Joe’s, I found a bag of Organic Corn Chips under the Trader Joe’s label. The trusty g* symbol was right on the bag and the ingredients were corn, oil, and salt. For only $1.99 a bag, I had to give the product a try. The photo of the product on the bag looked remarkably like the Fritos Scoops.
Almost a week after I bought the chips, I finally opened them to find out how they tasted. Right away I noticed an odd odor wafting from the bag. Since the product contains nothing but the ingredients noted above, I can’t figure out what the odd smell is. The taste of the product is good and very close to the Fritos brand, but it doesn’t seem to be the exact same product. Fritos Scoops are saltier and they don’t have an odd odor either. The Trader Joe’s chips are also less greasy than Fritos which is a good thing.
It’s very nice that this item is made from organic corn and the price is very reasonable. However, due to the smell, I probably would not purchase the chips again. The only feasible explanation (that I could come up with) regarding the odor was that it was coming from the bag. However, when I took the chips out of the bag and put them in a bowl, the smell was still there. It’s probable that only people with an overactive sense of smell can detect the odd odor.
Trader Joe’s carries a slew of gluten-free products and their ‘no gluten ingredients’ list was updated in early January. Some new items have been added to the list and a few have been removed. The most notable deletion for me was the Chocolate Mousse Collaboration. It was the best ‘no gluten ingredients’ item I’ve ever had from Trader Joe’s and unlike the Trader Joe’s Corn Chips, the decadent treat smelled like chocolate nirvana.
Tiffany,
I would talk to an employee next time you are in TJ’s and let them know. Perhaps they can open another bag and see if the same odor is present?
Kim
I am know as the super nose in my family and circle of friends. I love TJ’s organic corn chips and have not noticed a weird smell. I wonder if they were in extreme heat at sometime and the odor came from the bag. I would try them again making sure they are from a different shipment just to be sure.
I’m thinking something must be off with that particular bag. I will try the item again and like Kim noted in another post about TJ’s, I can return it for a refund if the same thing happens again 😉