It's part of the joy of a Belizean primary school recess, dashing to the snack cart and tearing open a brand new pack of chips. But up until now your schoolyard snack likely came from either Mexico or Guatemala.
But that may be about to change because of a new locally produced line of corn chips.
It's Bowen and Bowen's newest offering, Snackerz, a line of what is right now, exclusively corn chips coming onto the market.
These corn chips are also the first of their kind made from Belizean raw materials and exclusively processed and packaged in Belize. Tonight we're giving you a first-hand look at how Snackerz goes from corn cob to chips bag and we're doing it all long before most Belizeans have ever even tasted the chip. Here's more:
Belize's very own corn chip has arrived and if you live up North it could soon be on a store shelf near you.
But in the meantime 7 News got an advance preview of Bowen and Bowen's first line of chips under their brand new Snackers brand, a line that kicks of with four flavours
Shauna Arnold, Marketing Manager, Snackerz
"Snackerz is a line of snacks that we have under Bowen and Bowen, it is a new line of locally produced snacks that we have, in its initial instance we are launching with corn chips, we have four different great flavours of corn chips all new exciting flavours."
"We looked at the Belizean last profile and we wanted something that we knew they would love and that they would enjoy and with that, we came up with four great flavours, we have Asadas, Bocadas, Child, and Doradas."
"Chiladas is more for those persons who like the heat, with child's we are introducing fiery habanero, we have two other flavors that are coming down the pipeline but for right now we are introducing fiery habanero and it is really really great, it's a burst of flavor it has that spicy lime kick that we know Belizeans love."
"Asadas is great for that snack on the go that you may love, putting it in your bag, crunching it, it is lightly salted it's a lightly salted corn chip, Bocadas is perfect for dipping, it is the perfect dipping chip, it is great with ceviche with guacamole, with cheese dip, it works perfect, with Doradas we have two great flavours, we have Zesty Ranch and we have Nacho cheese, these are perfect it's a bold flavour, it's excitement in your mouth, all of that it wakes up your taste buds, all of that."
This afternoon we headed down to Bowen and Bowen's factory to get a firsthand looked at the totally automated chip production line hard at work on Doradas. Director Dion Augustus gave us the grand tour.
Dion Augustus, Director, Snackerz
"Snackerz is made from Belize's own corn. It comes from local farmers, we've worked with local farmers, heartland acres and valley farms limited, it literally is funneled into our silos, it comes through the silos to toasters it gets toasted and from the toaster. It is then milled."
"After that milling water and special ingredients are added to create masa, that masa is then sheated. It is then rolled because it's flattened and there is a cutter that cuts the different shapes of the different chips brands that we have, from there it's peeled off goes into the, on a conveyor, it is then baked. An oven at roughly about 400 degrees Celsius, after baking it is then further conveyed in a fryer and the fryer cooks at about 190 degrees celsius and then after frying it is further conveyed and it goes into the seasoning area. The seasoning is done in a tumbling fashion. After seasoning takes place it will go into the, it is then conveyed into the bagging area, the packaging area. From that sealing point it is then manually collected and is ready for distribution and then sale."
And Bowen says these Snackers are just one step in decreasing import duties. They hope that by using Belizean raw materials to manufacture processed goods we can focus on self-reliance even in the more fun parts of our daily consumption.
Shauna Arnold, Marketing Manager, Snackerz
"We launched Snackerz a couple of weeks, ago we recently launched in Orange Walk we've launched in Corozal, we will eventually make our way to the southern part of the country and to the Western part and lastly to Belize City and the Caye, so our plan encompasses school as well as other major retail outlets throughout the country, that's where people will be able to find Snackerz."
Snackerz expects to expand its Snackers line to a wider range of snacks in the future.
