Space Raiders (snack food)

A standard pickled onion packet of Space Raiders. This is of the smaller £0.10 variety.

Space Raiders are an inexpensive British corn-based snack food. They are made from corn and wheat and are available in several flavours. They are made by United Biscuits in the UK. Space Raiders are especially popular with children, but also inspire nostalgia in many British adults.[1]

Pricing

Space Raiders remained at a retail price of 10 pence from their introduction in the late 1970s until late October 2007, when the price increased to 15p. It later increased to 25p before lowering to 20p. The price has continued to fluctuate, reflecting the volatility of the underlying commodity prices. At the time of the original 5p price rise, directors at United Biscuits received death threats.[2]

Each crisp is in the shape of an alien head. Prior to the change in EC food colouring laws, Roast Beef Space Raiders were bright red and pickled onion ones were green. They are now a light brown colour reflecting the maize/corn ingredients.

Comics

Mini comic stories were printed on the backs of packets. They have over the years included the adventures of 'Astra and her Space Pirates' through to the current stories of aliens being afraid of the crunching sounds of Space Raiders being eaten. These, however, are now not included on the back of packets (2010) and instead there is a fact file on an alien, different for each flavour.

Flavours

Nutrition information

Beef Flavour Pickled Onion Flavour
Average Values Per 100 g Per 28 g Bag Per 13 g Bag Per 100 g Per 13 g Bag
Energy (kJ) 2007 562 261 1958 255
Energy (kCal) 479 134 62 467 61
Protein 7.0 g 2.0 g 0.9 g 6.3 g 0.8 g
Carbohydrate 61.5 g 17.2 g 8.0 g 59.3 g 7.7 g
of which Sugars 3.3 g 0.9 g 0.4 g 1.7 g 0.2 g
Fat 22.8 g 6.4 g 3.0 g 22.8 g 3.0 g
of which Saturates 5.0 g 1.4 g 0.7 g 5.0 g 0.7 g
Fibre 3.6 g 1.0 g 0.5 g 3.6 g 0.5 g
Sodium 1.2 g 0.3 g 0.2 g 1.6 g 0.2 g

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "United Biscuits - They’ve landed: UBUK relaunches Space Raiders". United Biscuits. 2010-10-18. Archived from the original on 2014-03-06. Retrieved 2016-04-03.
  2. ↑ Lucy Burton, The Lawyer, 1 November 2013
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