Cracker Jacks popcorn maker is adding a new ingredient to their classic snacks – caffeine – making Cracker Jack’D a product strictly developed for adults .
Branded Cracker Jack’D, a new version of Frito-Lay’s classic ballpark snack will contain caffeinated wafers called “power bites”.
Containing 70 mg of caffeine per 2 oz package, Frito-Lay says the soon-to-be released product is developed strictly for adults.
Despite keeping their iconic baby-faced sailor and dog on its packaging, it won’t be marketed for children they said.
“The package design and appearance are wholly different from Cracker Jack to ensure there is no confusion among consumers,” Frito-Lay spokesman Chris Kuechenmeister told The Boston Globe.
“We all know kids live with adults and if kids see a Cracker Jack box, whether or not their familiar with that product, they’re very likely to pick it up,” concerned dietician Lauren Antonucci told WABC.
Lauren Antonucci is one of many already up in arms over the new product calling it inappropriate for a snack she said is typically sold to children.
The Center for Science in the Public Interest has mutually accused Frito-Lay of violating regulations with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) over the new product.
In a letter expressing their upset, the non-profit alerted the FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, fearing the food could add to further caffeinated items popping up on store shelves.
“How soon before we have caffeinated burgers, burritos, or breakfast cereals?” CSPI’s executive director Michael F. Jacobson wrote in the letter sent on Thursday.
Explaining the amount of 70 mg taken from coffee beans, Lauren Antonucci reasoned it to be the “Equivalent to about one and a half cups of black tea or a cup of weak coffee or slightly less than an 8 ounce cup of coffee.”
Regardless of what may sound like a little amount to some she worries that adults get enough caffeine in their daily lives as it is.
“It’s going to be very easy for adults to go over the limits for caffeine,” she said.
