According to American Merchandiser, the latest list of the top ten snack food choices from vending machines is as follows:

1)Snickers
2) Doritos Big Grab
3) Peanut M&Ms
4)Cheetos
5) Cheez-It Original
6) Twix
7)Strawberry frosted Pop Tarts
8)Rice Krispies Treat
9)Lay's Chips
10)Mrs.Freshley's Jumbo Honey Bun

Now, dear readers, I know you are probably wondering what I was: Who the heck is Mrs.Freshley? And how did she manage to sneak in her honey bun among all these big-name competitors?

Well, I did a little research. Turns out, the honey bun has been awarded "Pastry Product of the Year" several times. And the damage? One honey bun contains 590 calories, 29 grams of fat, 37 grams of sugar, and - I'm sure - a whole lot of deliciousness (quickly followed by a whole lot of stomachache).

There's a new magazine out of France, and it's kinda cool in that weird, hipster-y PoMo sort of way. It's called Yummy, and its calling itself a "JunkFoodDesignMagazine" (because spaces between words are so passé).

The magazine - and web site - are mostly en Français, but obviously, art transcends language, and all that jazz, so your lack of French-speaking skills will not hinder your appreciation - or revulsion - from the site.

The featured art runs the gambit from Whodonut?, Virginia Barre's slightly disturbing illustrations of people living in a fast food nation, to Show Her, which seems to be a big excuse for the artist to show photos of a half-naked woman in a rainstorm, occasionally holding a soda bottle (hence, the food connection, I suppose).

Go check it out - you might just be inspired to make some food art of your own. Or just be really grossed out.

This is probably going to start a trend: hospitals in Wales have banned vending machines that sell soda and candy.

They are going to phase out the vending machines over the next six months. But one hospital, University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff, will still have junk food vending machines in 2010. Not sure why they get special treatment, but if you're visiting someone in a Wales hospital and have a craving for Cadbury chocolate, you'll have to go there.

The junk food machines are going to be replaced with machines that have healthier food options, such as fruit juice. Though I hope they're looking at the sugar content of some of those so-called "healthy" fruit juices.

Earlier today, my mom called me to say she had sent me a link to an article she thought was interesting and might make a good Slashfood post (she's always looking out for me, that mother of mine). When I got home, I checked my email and found a link to this article, published on January 2nd, that discusses a study in which people in 13 countries were asked whether they agreed or not with the statement, "I like the taste of fast food too much to give it up."

Forty-five percent of Britons agreed with the statement, just barely ahead of the 44 percent of Americans who agreed. Canadians are in third place, with 37 percent of them unable to give up their junk food. Only 19 percent of people from France thought that junk food was too tasty to give up (and who can blame them, food in France is amazing).

They also asked questions about how people from the different countries thought it was best to lose weight, how often they weighed themselves and how often they went to the gym.

I'm not sure if this will surprise a lot of people, but the Center For Science in the Public Interest says that 80% of the ads on Nickelodeon are for junk food.

The organization says that that 80% of ads are for restaurants, foods, and beverages that are advertised not only on the network but also tied into its characters and products. Of course, Nickelodeon doesn't agree with the study, and a spokesman says that 10% of the network's advertising tries to push healthy foods and that they are working with companies to market carrots, nectarines and other fruits and vegetables. I'm not even sure what that means - will be see Nickelodeon Bananas in the produce section next year?

You can read the entire article in the July issue of American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

[via That's Fit]

I'm an absolute sucker for novel junk-food packaging. Doritos X-13D stopped me dead in my tracks when I was at 7-Eleven the other night. The white panel read "This is the X-13D Flavor Experiment. Objective: Taste and name Doritos flavor X-13D." I felt as if it were my civic duty to name this flavor, so I purchased two bags. I also wanted to win a years supply of the orange-colored treats. Mmm...powdered cheese.

I munched on a few on the walk home. They tasted vaguely of something familiar. The front of the package has a line that reads, "All American Classic." After I thought about it for a while I figured out what X-13D tastes like, and it is indeed a classic. It also helps explain why beef tallow and pickle juice are among the ingredients.

I went to X-13D with the intention of entering my name for this experimental snack. The jet-black pages, creepy futuristic music and Flash animations including a 3-D rotating animation of the package that displays the name you've chosen led me to believe that is a Web site created by stoners for stoners. I imagine eight-year-olds kids typing "Monkey Poo" and such, laughing their heads off. Don't worry, that's not the name I chose for X-13D. Actually I never officially entered since I couldn't get the dang site to cooperate with my dinosaur of a PC. The contest ends July 14. Can't get X-13D where you live? Worry not, some genius is selling them on eBay for $9.99 a bag. I'm not sure if it's the large size or not. Either way, that's a ridiculous markup.

After a study, British researchers have concluded that food-related TV commercials make kids fat.

60 kids, aged 9 to 11, were studied, and researchers discovered several things. A child's weight influenced what they ate (wow, really?), obese kids consistently chose chocolate over healthier foods when given the choice (you don't say!), and all kids wanted to eat more after they saw TV commercials featuring sweets and other food.

Whenever I see a commercial for Viagra, I want to have sex.

On a related note, it's TV Turnoff Week!

Last year, the UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) was involved with the promotion of several measures to restrict the content of food advertisements that were targeted at, or easily viewable by, children. Broadcasting regulator Ofcom instituted a ban on junk food ads that were targeted at 16-and-under TV viewers during non-primetime hours, which was a major victory for those supporting restrictions.

The FSA also supported a ban on online junk food advertising that was targeted at this demographic, a step which many believed was a step too far at the time. Clearly, times and opinions have changed, however, because further regulations have just been drawn up by the Department of Health's Committee on Advertising Practice that will ban "junk food companies" from advertising in magazines, on the internet, on billboards and at movie screenings that are targeted at under-16s.

Fortunately for the companies in question and the media outlets that rely on their advertising dollars, there is no official oversight of all these forms of advertising, which means that following the regulations is voluntary - for the moment, anyway.

To say that the awareness campaign against childhood obesity has been a big one is something of an understatement. There are healthy vending machines getting put into schools, students' BMIs are getting put on report cards and junk food ads have been banned from many televisions. But despite all efforts, there hasn't yet been a noticeable change in the way children eat or a reversal of the trend towards obesity.

A new study illustrates the fact that the impact of all such measures has been minimal. Kids snack more than other age groups, with the average 5-9 year old child consuming $114 worth of candies and sugary treats, $30 of ice cream and $58 of salty snacks each year. "Tweens," the next age group up, consume "40 percent more carbonates per capita than the population average." The same study found that kids are exercising less than ever before, as well, leading to their prediction that childhood obesity rates (including both "overweight" and "obese") will move up from the current 32% to 42% by 2011. European kids aren't too much better off with rates around 35%.

The advice for a turnaround - eat less, exercise more - still stands, but unless something motivates a change, it doesn't look like there will be a radical decrease in the near future.

What is it about the change of taste you get when you shrink down a larger food into a smaller one? I can see how baby peas or other foods can taste different, because they are different, but something like the new Pringles Minis, why do they taste different than the ordinary Pringles when they are just smaller versions of the original?

OK, so they don't taste that different. But they don't taste exactly the same either. Even if you put enough smaller ones in your mouth to equal a whole Pringles large chip, there's still something slightly different about the taste. I was never very good at science in school.

These are pretty good though. They come in Original, Sour Cream and Onion, and Cheddar Cheese flavors. I don't think I'd buy them over the regular Pringle's, but they do retain their shape in the little bags. I thought they'd be Pringles Dust because they're not protected and stacked like the bigger chips, but the two bags I've had were fine. (Pringles also has some new Pringles Selects, but I haven't tried them yet.)

For this edition of Midnight Snack I decided to crack open probably some of the strangest stuff I've come across in a long time: Fried Chicken Snack and Hot Chicken Snack. Both of these junk food oddities come to the States from Korea's Nong Shim Co.

First a few words about the packaging. While I've taken this photo vertically with shaky late-night hands to better display the "chicken," the boxes open horizontally not unlike a package of takeout fried chicken. That folks is where the resemblance ends, almost. At least the pieces look like fried chicken drumsticks. Each is about an inch long and has a rough surface resembling breading.

But how do they taste? Sooooo very glad you asked. Even though it bears the words "Fried Chicken Taste" on the package this variety tastes only like fried bird because of its crunch and slightly greasy texture. I prefer the hot variety, which again tastes nothing at all like fried chicken, but rather like a wheat-based version of Andy Capp's Hot Fries. But it's all good, I was down a quart of palm oil anyway.

For those of you who think I'm all about junk food, you're right. But don't worry, future editions of Midnight Snack may feature me eating cold leftovers while standing in front of the fridge.

There is a problem with using a strategy known as "nutrient profiling," a strategy designed to help regulatory agencies determine what is - and what is not - junk food quickly and easily. It works by setting limits on the number of calories and the amount of fat, salt, sugar, etc. that any food product can have. Everything is held to the same standard based on a predetermined portion size. Advertisers, schools and government agencies using this see the food world in black and white and it makes it very easy to sort out the goof from the bad.

In theory, that is.

The problem is that it doesn't take into account what the food actually is. Last year in the US, Illinois introduced similar standards that left whole milk classified as "junk food." Now, in the UK, Ofcom's guidelines for food advertising classify cheese as junk food, as well as several other foods that wouldn't necessarily be perceived as junk food by the average consumer, because it is "high in fat, salt and[/or] sugar ." This means that cheese cannot be advertised on TV programs made for children or where a high proportion of the viewers are under 16.

The nutrient profiling system has led to complaints from food organizations, including the British Cheese Board, and calls for a change in structure. The BCB says that the portion size of cheese used was much too large and other groups say that it is unfair that natural, balanced foods are restricted while diet sodas and other low-cal processed foods are permitted.

Want to look back on some of the top news, trends and other food related goings-on of the last year? After a jam-packed year of posting, there are some topics that keep coming up again and again. From A to Z, here are our top picks from 2006:

Ad mascots made a comeback and even got spinoff merchandise of their own.

Bacon was just about everywhere

Premium and gourmet coffee is everywhere, and there is an increased appreciation for it.

Dark chocolate is more popular than ever

Energy drinks are a big hit with teens. Caffeinated vodkas are taking the trend even further.

Fois gras is banned in Chicago, although you wouldn't know it to eat there.

Gelato is nearing the top spot on the list of cold, sweet treats that people love to indulge in.

High fructose corn syrup is being looked on with a more critical eye by consumers and removed from some drinks.

Now here are two web sites that a compulsive consumer of all manner of Asian snacks can really use, Sinosplice's Junk Food Review and Junk Food Review 2. To think that this random walk through various kinds of Chinese snacks has been around for more than a year without showing up on my radar boggles the mind.

The intrepid John and Wilson work their way through a dozen snacks and beverages rating them either thumbs up or thumbs down. The items range from Salami, a jerky-type product that neither like to Peppermint Plums, a preserved plum product that combines sour, sweet and minty and draws raves from both. SSS Carrot Juice gets a unanimous pan, with John calling it "Nasty, nasty, nasty."

I'm not sure where in China these two did their first tastings, but Junk Food Review 2 was done in Taipei. This time around the boys cover 10 items. My favorite thumbs-down items were Recover snack bars, a Powerbar type item that John calls "shortbread gone wrong" and dried juruo, which Wilson likens to chewing on peppery dead skin. The boys sometimes disagree. President Papaya Milk draws a rave from Wilson, but John hated it. [via Serious Eats]

That's actually a wiseass headline. I'm sure there are a lot of kids who like vegetables. I loved them when I was a kid, even ones that kids are supposed to hate, like spinach and yams. But I think that a lot of kids like vegetables that you can make more "junk food-ish," like potatoes.

The Boston Globe asked three 13 and 14 year-olds to keep track of what they ate for two days, and then they showed the results to a nutritionists. The results are rather interesting. Their diets seem to revolve around pizza, french fries, mac and cheese, with some chicken and turkey thrown in. But they don't really like vegetables, unless it's corn or potatoes. Sometimes they skip lunch altogether and eat candy that they've bought at the store before school. And sometimes before school they go to Dunkin' Donuts. This is pretty bad in and of itself, but add to the fact that these kids spend several hours sitting at a desk and their computer all day (they're bright kids who do well in school and have a lot of afterschool homework and internships) and you have a recipe for bad health.

Another scary revelation? The nutritionist says that these diets are actually better than what she sees from middle-schoolers. Yikes.