Space Raiders are a cheap snack food

Snack food

A snack is a portion of food oftentimes smaller than that of a regular meal, that is generally eaten between meals. Snacks come in a variety of forms including packaged and processed foods and items made from fresh ingredients at home....

, intended to fill the same niche market as crisps, and are sold in similar style packets. They are made from corn

Maize

Maize known in many English-speaking countries as corn or mielie/mealie, is a grain domesticated by indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica in prehistoric times. The leafy stalk produces ears which contain seeds called kernels. Though technically a grain, maize kernels are used in cooking as a vegetable...

 and wheat

Wheat

Wheat is a cereal grain, originally from the Levant region of the Near East, but now cultivated worldwide. In 2007 world production of wheat was 607 million tons, making it the third most-produced cereal after maize and rice...

 and available in several flavours. They are made by KP Snacks

KP Snacks

KP Snacks is a British producer of branded and own-label maize and potato based snacks, "Choc Dips" and nuts. The KP originally stood for Kenyon Produce. The company is based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England....

 in Ashby-de-la-Zouch

Ashby-de-la-Zouch

Ashby-de-la-Zouch, — Zouch being pronounced "Zoosh" — often shortened to Ashby, is a small market town and civil parish in North West Leicestershire, England, within the National Forest. It is twinned with Pithiviers in north-central France....

 in the UK

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

. Space Raiders are especially popular with children, but also hold nostalgic notions for many British adults today.

Price controversy

Space Raiders remained at an inflation-beating retail price of 10 pence from their introduction in the late 1970s all the way until late October 2007, when the price soared to 15p. The price has continued to fluctuate, reflecting the volatility of the underlying commodity prices. There has been massive uproar at the price hike in the Space Raiders fan community (a fan club named the 'Raidettes') and as a result the Raidettes have approached Benson

Benson

-People and animals:* Benson , people with the surname Benson* Benson , a notable common carp-Places:Canada* Benson No. 35, Saskatchewan; rural municipality* Benson, Saskatchewan; hamletUnited Kingdom* Benson, OxfordshireUnited States...

's brand of Snacks to produce a rival snack. There is also a campaign on the social networking site Facebook

Facebook

Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...

 to get the price of Space Raiders back down to 10p.

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 are 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 factfile of the flavors own alien.

Flavours

• Beef
  Beef
  Beef is the culinary name for meat from bovines, especially domestic cattle. Beef can be harvested from cows, bulls, heifers or steers. It is one of the principal meats used in the cuisine of the Middle East , Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Europe and the United States, and is also important in...
  
  
• Pickled Onion
  Pickled onion
  Pickled onions are a popular pickled food consisting of onions pickled in a solution of vinegar and salt, often with other preservatives and flavourings. In the United Kingdom they are often eaten alongside fish and chips or as part of a ploughman's lunch...
  
  
• Spicy
• Salt
  Salt
  In chemistry, salts are ionic compounds that result from the neutralization reaction of an acid and a base. They are composed of cations and anions so that the product is electrically neutral...
  
   and Vinegar
  Vinegar
  Vinegar is a liquid substance consisting mainly of acetic acid and water, the acetic acid being produced through the fermentation of ethanol by acetic acid bacteria. Commercial vinegar is produced either by fast or slow fermentation processes. Slow methods generally are used with traditional...
  
   (rarely avaliable)
• Cheese
  Cheese
  Cheese is a generic term for a diverse group of milk-based food products. Cheese is produced throughout the world in wide-ranging flavors, textures, and forms....
  
   (discontinued)
• Saucy BBQ (new 2010)

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