Hershey’s announced they have reached an agreement to acquire SnackSafely.com Manufacturer Partner Amplify Brands, the parent of SkinnyPop popcorn brand featured in the Safe Snack Guide and Allergence product screening service.
Said Michele Buck, The Hershey Company President and CEO:
The acquisition of Amplify and its product portfolio is an important step in our journey to becoming an innovative snacking powerhouse as together it will enable us to bring scale and category management capabilities to a key sub-segment of the warehouse snack aisle. Hershey’s snack mix and meat snacks products, combined with Amplify’s Skinny Pop, Tyrrells, Oatmega, Paqui and other international brands, will allow us to capture more consumer snacking occasions by creating a broader portfolio of brands.
Currently, all SkinnyPop varieties are marketed as peanut and tree nut free with many marketed free of the 11 allergens tracked by SnackSafely.com (peanuts, tree nuts, eggs, milk, soy, wheat, fish, crustacean shellfish, sesame, mustard, and gluten.)
How the brand’s manufacturing practices might change after the acquisition closes (Q1 2018) is unknown, and whether Amplify Brands remains a member of the Manufacturer Partnership and continues disclosing its manufacturing practices via SnackSafely.com’s publications is also unknown. Hershey’s is not currently a member of the Manufacturer Partnership despite invitations to join.
Would you like to see Amplify’s deep manufacturing disclosures regarding allergen processing continue after the acquisition? Call Hershey’s Media contact Leigh Horner at (717) 508-1247 and tell her “I want SkinnyPop to stay in the Safe Snack Guide!”
We will report any changes to Skinny Pop’s manufacturing practices, allergen-free claims, and membership status as events unfold.
