Fruit snack facts for kids

Welch's fruit snacks are a popular type of fruit snack.

A fruit snack is a sweet treat that looks a lot like gummy candies. It's often sold to parents as a snack for kids in the United States. Even though they are called "fruit snacks," their main ingredient is usually sugar. This sugar often comes from things like concentrated white grape juice and apple juice.

Some fruit snacks can even have more sugar than gummy candies. They also usually have less protein. The biggest differences between gummy candies and fruit snacks are how they are marketed and advertised. Fruit snacks often use sugar from tapioca or fruit juice, while gummy candies might use sugar from sugar beets, corn, or sugarcane.

Some well-known companies that make chewy fruit snacks include Promotion In Motion (which makes the Welch's brand), Kellogg's, General Mills, and Betty Crocker.

Fruit snacks became popular because they are easy to carry and eat. They taste like candy, and they are often advertised as being healthier than candy. Most fruit snacks come in small plastic packages that don't need to be kept in the fridge. This means you can take them almost anywhere! However, they do have an expiration date. The amount of real fruit in fruit snacks can be different. Some, like Welch's, have some fruit purees. Others might only have tiny amounts of juice along with a lot of sugar.

Fruit leather is a bit different. Even though it might have similar ingredients, it's usually made mostly from pureed, dried fruit and very sweet fruit juice.

What's Inside Fruit Snacks?

These gummy bear candies can have less sugar and more protein than some fruit snacks.

More than half of a fruit snack's weight is simple sugars. They also contain about 12% water, 25% starch, a small amount of fat, and very little protein.

There has been a lot of talk about how healthy fruit snacks really are. Much of this discussion is about the large amount of sugar found in some fruit snacks. Experts often suggest that parents should think of fruit snacks the same way they think of candy or any other sugary treat.

How Much Do They Cost?

As of 2015, fruit snacks usually cost two to five times more than gummy bears.

The History of Fruit Snacks

Modern fruit snacks are very different from dried fruit. The first modern fruit snack was called Joray Fruit Rolls. A candy maker named Louis Shalhoub created them in the 1970s. These were first used by backpackers as a light, high-energy food. They were not originally made to be a "healthy" candy for kids.

The name fruit snack was first used in 1983 by General Mills. They used it to describe their own version of Shalhoub's product, called Fruit Roll-Ups. These new snacks had much more sugar.

By the mid-1980s, fruit snacks were a huge business, making millions of dollars. However, sales reached their highest point in 2013 and then started to go down over the next few years.

Popular Brands of Fruit Snacks

Betty Crocker and General Mills

Three fruit snacks from General Mills: Fruit Roll-Ups, Fruit Gushers, and Fruit by the Foot.

General Mills, which owns Betty Crocker products, launched the first Fruit Corners Fruit Roll-Ups in 1983. Later, they introduced Fruit by the Foot. Both Fruit Roll-Ups and Fruit by the Foot are packaged in a similar way, rolled around something to keep them from sticking. But they taste, feel, and look different.

Fruit Gushers are fruit snacks shaped like small, six-sided pyramids. They are mostly made from sugar and fruit juice, with a few other ingredients. Introduced in 1991, they are also made by General Mills under the Betty Crocker brand. You can also find similar products from other companies.

Welch's Fruit Snacks

Among the many products under the Welch's name are Welch’s Fruit Snacks. These are made and sold by The Promotion In Motion Companies, Inc. Welch’s Fruit Snacks are made with fruit purees, corn syrup, sugar, starch, and juices, among other ingredients.

Other Brands You Might Know

Annie's Homegrown Organic Bunny Fruit Snacks, also owned by General Mills, use sugar from sweet cassava roots.

Sunkist has also made and licensed several fruit snack brands:

• Sunkist Fun Fruits were a licensed snack food from Leaf Confections Limited. They were made with fruit from Sunkist Growers, Incorporated and packaged by Thomas J. Lipton. These snacks came out in 1987. They were small, soft, and shaped like a jellybean. At first, they came in four flavors: cherry, grape, orange, and strawberry. Later that year, they added fun shapes like dinosaurs and rock 'n' roll shapes to attract children. After Leaf Confections stopped making them, Sunkist licensed the production of fruit snacks to other companies:
  • Sunkist First Fruit Snacks, in Canada, are made by Ganong Bros. Limited.
  • Sunkist Fruit Gems are made by the Ben Myerson Candy Company.
  • Sunkist Fruit Snacks are made by General Mills, Inc.