Our world is one where people go crazy over novel presentations of beloved snacks, but also one where people are seeking snacks full of protein. That’s why it really shouldn’t surprise anyone that Hormel, best known as the maker of Spam, is expanding into new, snack-size iterations of their meat and peanut butter products.

No, we don’t mean snack-size portions: that’s a thing that Spam already tried years ago, and Hormel’s Skippy peanut butter brand has done well selling single-serve peanut butter containers. That’s not what these new products are: the snacks themselves are bite-sized.

In an interview with the trade publication Meat & Poultry, James Splinter, group vice president of the Grocery Products Unit at Hormel, explained that the company has been looking for “innovation out of the jar,” or perhaps out of the can in the case of Spam. Inspiration for individual bites from their most prominent brands came from the candy bar bites that have been a hit for many candy companies. “Why can’t we do this, only with meat?” they probably asked themselves, secretly fearing the answer.

That’s how Hormel gave the world Spam Snacks, which are bite-sized, flavored pieces of Spam. They come in bacon and teriyaki flavors. Hormel claims that the process they used to do this is a special Spam-drying technology.

Hormel bought peanut butter brand Skippy from Unilever a few years ago. The thing that we feared most hasn’t yet happened: peanut butter and Spam or pepperoni haven’t been combined into a single, protein-rich, delicious and/or horrifying snack.

Spam Snacks won’t be available everywhere: apparently, the most Spam-loving regions will get the product first. Congratulations, Hawaii!

Hormel unveils ‘breakthrough innovation’ in snacks [Meat & Poultry News]

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