
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, September 13, 1995                   TAG: 9509130030
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B-7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NEW YORK                                LENGTH: Medium

NABISCO PLANS TO MAKE HEALTHY CHOICE COOKIES

The maker of the hot-selling SnackWell's brand plans to see if there is an appetite for another line of reduced-fat cookies that will be marketed under the Healthy Choice banner.

Nabisco Inc., the leader on the U.S. cookie market, said Tuesday it had obtained a license from ConAgra Inc. to use the Healthy Choice name for a new line of cookies and snacks it hopes to introduce next year.

Officials of the companies said they feel there is more than enough untapped demand from people who like to snack but would like choices lower in fat to support both the SnackWell's and Healthy Choice lines.

Healthy Choice products must meet guidelines for fat and salt and are marketed as nutritious alternatives to regular prepared food. SnackWell's products either contain no fat or reduced fat.

The industry trend toward making lower-fat foods available was also evident in announcements Tuesday from two other foodmakers.

Oscar Mayer Foods Corp. said it will add fat-free ham to its line of fat-free lunch meats including hot dogs and bologna.

The fat-free sliced ham will go on sale in October in New Mexico, Arizona, Texas and Oklahoma and be available nationally by mid-1996.

Hershey Foods Corp. said it was introducing reduced-fat baking chips which contain half the fat of traditional semi-sweet chocolate chips and 25 percent fewer calories. They go on sale nationally next month.

Hershey can't call the chips chocolate because they don't contain cocoa butter. But it says most consumers won't taste a difference and recommends using the chips as a substitute for regular chocolate chips in recipes.

Nabisco already accounts for nearly half of the estimated $7 billion market for cookies and crackers sold in America with brands such as Oreos, Ritz and Chips Ahoy! as well as SnackWell's.

Since its launch in 1992, SnackWell's has grown quickly into a brand with more than $500 million in cookie and cracker sales in the past year. No sales targets were offered for the Healthy Choice line.

Omaha, Neb.-based ConAgra sold more than $1.3 billion in products ranging from soup to ice cream under the Healthy Choice name last year.

by CNB