By Viva Sarah Press, NoCamels
This article was re-published with permission from NoCamels.com – Israeli Innovation News
One million bags of Bamba, the popular Israeli snack food, are produced every day at a new factory in Kiryat Gat, a southern Israeli city about an hour’s drive from Tel Aviv. The new production line means the Osem company can now meet the increasing demand for bags of the popular peanut puff treat in Israel and around the world.
The country’s best-selling snack food has seen an upswing in popularity in North America and Europe following breakthrough studies that specifically named Bamba in helping to protect children from developing peanut allergies.
“When we invented Bamba 55 years ago, we never thought it would become the best-selling snack in Israel or that it would attract such interest abroad as well,” Osem Chairman Dan Propper, said at the February 19 opening ceremony of the new factory, built with an investment of about NIS 200 million ($55 million) on an area of 16,000 square meters.
Indeed, this peanut butter-flavored puffed maize snack-in-a-bag wasn’t particularly popular when first introduced in 1964. Actually, Bamba started off as cheese-flavored, similar to Cheetos. It didn’t appeal to local taste buds. But in 1966, Osem replaced the cheese-flavor with peanut-flavored Bamba and its popularity began rising.
Since 2007, Bamba has been the country’s bestselling savory snack.
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