I love snacking. Who doesn't?

Nowadays, snacking has become people’s habit. Many different types of snack also emerge in the market. Snack food is defined as food eaten between regular meals. Oxford dictionary also defines snack as a small amount of food eaten between meals or a light meal that is eaten in a hurry or in a casual manner. But what’s wrong with snacking?
Snacking associated with increased calories, however decreased nutrients. Snacking is a dietary behavior that has increased in recent decades in almost all countries in the world, while percentages of the population who are overweight and obese also have increased. Snacking analysis, based on trustworthy research indicates that snacks provide about one-third (32 percent for women and 31 percent for men) of all daily calories from "empty calories," which are calories from solid fats and added sugars (food components that provide little nutritional value). Therefore, consuming more snacks in a day was associated with significantly higher calorie intakes. Foods and beverages consumed at snacks provided 24 percent of the day’s total intake of calories, with higher proportions of carbohydrate, total sugars, fat, but lower proportions of most other nutrients.

In Indonesia, some people like to buy unpackaged snack or bulk snack, which is cheaper than packaged snack. We can meet bulk snack easily at traditional markets, convenient stores, or even at supermarkets. Many kinds of snacks, such as chips, wafer, chocolate stick and cracker are included as bulk snacks, which are bought per weight basis (usually the price is calculated per kg). Even though, we must be more aware when choosing this kind of snack, since it doesn’t have any food label.

Firstly, bulk snack is generally produced in home industries. Although there was a possibility, some are manufactured in specialized factory. In terms quality control, home-cooked food, which is usually produced through a simple process, has difficulties to get a guarantee. For instance, the general principle of food hygiene which sets out the approach to be followed in the production of food from farm to final preparation. Moreover, since the snack doesn’t have nutrition fact, consumer can’t calculate the nutritional value that is contains in the snack. The common guidance for good snacks are those with contribution of fat to the calories that is ≤30% of total calories. 
Secondly, bulk snack doesn’t have list of food ingredient. It is bad because it may contain food additive as well. For example, quantities and types of additives flavor enhancer is difficult to know because lack of information that is usually listed on food packaging. Furthermore, the bulk snack is not separated from food additives to enhance the appeal. When consumed too much and too often, you'll be at risk of developing various health problems ranging from nausea, vomiting, respiratory infection, gastrointestinal disorders, nerve cell damage and cancer

Thirdly, the way of storage is also likely to be limited. While the process of packing and improper storage will reduce the quality of the food. Depending on the type of food, but kind of snack made in a home industry that does not use preservatives typically have a durability of up to four months. Unfortunately, this information is difficult to obtain in bulk foods. Therefore, traders sometimes forget to record when the production of these foods. So the only way to determine the shelf life of bulk snack is by tasted it.

Finally, bad food for some people doesn’t mean it also bad for the other people. People who are undernutrition may eat as much snack that they want because they need dense energy food. Basically, bad foot is all the food we like but we shouldn’t eat too much of. Thus, it is individually. Take care of your body because it’s the only place you have to live.