失宠的薯片

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2020年07月03日

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失宠的薯片

薯片作为英国人曾经最爱的零食，受健康问题与不合理的竞价等因素的影响，市场占有率正在下降，而爆米花和坚果等零食则逐渐显露出优势。

测试中可能遇到的词汇和知识：

popcorn 爆米花['pɒpkɔːn]

transatlantic 跨大西洋的[,trænzət'læntɪk]

obesity 肥胖[ə(ʊ)'biːsɪtɪ]

flavor 香味['fleɪvə]

Walkers 沃克斯（英国薯片品牌）

阅读即将开始，建议您计算一下阅读整篇文章所用时间，并对照我们在文章最后给出的参考值来估算您的阅读速度。

Crisps lose their crunch as Britons go nuts for popcorn（531words）

By Scheherazade Daneshkhu, Consumer Industries Editor

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For decades it has been Britain’s favourite snack, whether in traditional cheese ‘n’ onion or salt ‘n’ vinegar form, or in more modern flavours such as asparagus, parmesan and truffle. Hand-cooked.

But with consumers increasingly health conscious, the crisp has come under pressure from rival snacks such as nuts and that transatlantic upstart, popcorn.

Sales in Britain of potato crisps fell to £1.34bn in 2015 —— the second consecutive year of decline —— and were outsold for the first time by other snacks, according to a report on crisps, nuts and savoury snacks released on Wednesday by Mintel, the consumer research group.

The value of sales was also driven down by the country’s increasingly desperate supermarket price wars, as retailers cut prices to compete with each other.

Amy Price, senior analyst at Mintel, said: “The crisps market is experiencing deflation, with manufacturers and retailers turning to discounting to drive volumes as part of the supermarket price wars, and the category is losing out to healthier alternatives.”

Crisps producers are trying to boost sales by bringing out less unhealthy versions, though Mintel says the manufacturers have tended to lag behind other snacks in terms of new products.

Two-thirds of those who eat crisps and similar snacks said they would like them to be cooked in healthier cooking oils, such as olive or coconut. Almost half said they would like superfood vegetable crisps.

Half the crisps sold by value are Walkers —— a brand owned by PepsiCo of the US. In recent years it has launched Walkers Pops and Walkers Baked, which contain half the fat, or less, of that in traditional fried crisps.

Popcorn is the “star” performer in the snacks markets, with sales almost trebling over the past five years, helped by a “burst of innovation” of flavours and types, according to Mintel.

Sales have risen 169 per cent against an 8 per cent rise in crisps over the same period. However, at £129m last year, popcorn sales are only a fraction of that of crisps.

Other types of savoury snacks, including tortilla chips, have also grown strongly, 25 per cent over the past five years. In total, sales of these other snacks reached £1.39bn last year, overtaking crisps for the first time.

Nuts have grown in popularity but they tend to be consumed by older adults, aged 45 and above. Mintel said manufacturers could tap the opportunity to get younger consumers interested.

“The market needs to look to ways to engage younger consumers [and] educating young people about the energy benefits of nuts should resonate as 16-34 years olds are more likely than average to be influenced by products providing an energy boost when they shop,” it said.

Although sales have dropped over the past two years, it would be too soon to call “peak crisp”, the research suggests, as the majority of consumers see them as a guilty pleasure.

“Despite the obesity crisis and swaths of the population trying to lose weight, adults have a rather relaxed attitude to crisps,” said Ms Price. Four-fifths of people regard crisps as fine to eat as an “occasional” treat, while at least 60 per cent eat them regularly, at least once a week.

请根据你所读到的文章内容，完成以下自测题目：

1.Which factor makes crisps come under pressure?

a.the increasing cost

b. increasingly health conscious

c. the decreasing yield of potatoes

d. the decreasing labor force

2.Which factor also drives down the sales of crisps?

a. The increasing tax of snacks

b. The retailers’ failure of attracting customers

c. The increasingly desperate supermarket price wars

d. Young people don’t like crisps anymore

3.Which snack is the star performer?