Leading snack food manufacturer, Hunter Foods, recently launched its latest gourmet snack innovation, ‘Poppatillas’.

”We believe there is a market for fusion snack which is why we launched what we think of as  Indian poppadums meeting Mexican tortillas,” said Bharat Narayan, chairman and managing director of the company.
“We have designed a contemporary snack for today’s international lifestyle by infusing the flavours of the rich Indian spices together with the taste from the golden-brown Mexican corn fields,” said Narayan.
Hunter Foods was started in 1986 in the Jebel Ali Free Zone with a special licence. It produces a wide range of products under various sub-brands that are all part of the larger Hunter family of snack food offerings. This, the company says, allows it to cater to various segments of the market and to customise its products for its consumer base. Currently Hunter Foods has three brands, namely Shikar, Hunter and Safari.
The raw materials are imported from Europe and the US and are processed in the UAE to make the crunchies. Aggressive marketing and stringent quality control are the hallmarks of Hunter Foods, according to Narayan.
The company highlights its infrastructure facilities, communication systems, comparatively low labour costs and other support services, emphasising it is committed to striving for higher standards. “Our modern international plant is the first 100 per cent foreign owned project in the Jebel Ali Free Zone,” asserts Narayan.
“Our brands enjoy an outstanding reputation for their premium quality, and innovations constantly add to the extensive range. Having developed an enviable reputation of our quality, our products have found a ready market in countries like the UK, France, Canada, Australia, Singapore, New Zealand and all the Gulf countries, clearly underscoring our superior quality and international standing.
“We received the honour of being the only food company in the Gulf to supply high-quality snack food directly to Carrefour France. The global sourcing office of Carrefour in Thailand picked out our products in Hong Kong and Jakarta, and contacted us in Jebel Ali.” 
The company says it is committed to providing innovative products backed by first class customer service. “Our goal is to keep striving to be the best, not the biggest,” says Narayan.
“We aim to set up unparallel standards of quality in providing most palatable range of potato chips like lentil poppadums,  corn poppadums, and savoury potato grills.”
To keep production above board, there is an in-house chemical and microbiological laboratory. “In March 2000, Hunter Foods became the first company in Europe, Africa and Middle East to achieve SQF 2000, a quality system which combines both quality and safety of food using codex HACCP (hazard analysis and critical control point) technique and elements of ISO 9000,” it says.
SQF stands for safe quality food. The SQF programme is a fully integrated food safety and quality management protocol designed specifically for the food sector with application at all links in the food supply chain. For a company to be a recipient of SQF certification it should provide and pass an independent external validation that a product, process or service complies with international, regulatory and other specified standards.