If 25 years and more than $200 million worth of research finally pay off, shoppers will discover a new kind of Pringles on supermarket shelves later this year. Alongside Procter & Gamble's regular potato chips will be Pringles that have been specially manufactured to be just as greasy and addictive—but without a trace of fat. The magic ingredient will be sucrose polyester, better known as olestra, a calorie-free fat substitute. Unlike the other fake fats available to the food industry, olestra can be used for frying (the reason existing fat-free chips taste like particle board is that they've been baked, not fried). After a recent four-day hearing on olestra, a majority of the FDA's Food Advisory Committee decided that the new additive appears to be safe; Commissioner David Kessler will issue a final decision this month.
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