How Frito-Lay is re-engineering its munchies to make healthier snacks

Perhaps no company has more at stake than chip-giant Frito-Lay, the world's biggest producer of snack foods, with $10 billion-plus in annual sales. Home of Doritos, Fritos, Cheetos and Tostitos, Frito-Lay represents 36 percent of parent company PepsiCo's operating profits. Faced with emerging scientific data of the perils of trans fats, which are created when hydrogen is added to liquid oil in a process that creates a solid fat that's easier to work with, Frito-Lay abandoned their use in 2002. But now that so many other food companies have made the switch, how can Frito-Lay still look more healthful than the competition?

Frito-Lay's research division is now looking for the next competitive advantage, from using more whole grains to adding colon-healthy fiber and lycopene, an antioxidant found in tomatoes and watermelon.