Japan’s largest snack maker Calbee is switching some of its packaging to black and white because the Iran war has disrupted the supply of materials used to produce colored printing inks. The company, which controls about half of Japan’s snack market and also sells in the U.S., announced Tuesday that several products, including popular potato chip lines and its shrimp-flavored Kappa Ebisen, will be sold in monochromatic bags starting May 25th due to “supply instability affecting certain raw materials amid ongoing tensions in the Middle East.”
Calbee was careful to note that the snacks themselves are completely unchanged, and the packaging switch is a temporary measure to keep products on shelves. The Iran war’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz has disrupted petroleum-based supply chains worldwide, and printing inks are among the products affected.
Source: Potato News Today
