Americans love their snacks. A lot. And Hershey’s latest move is to forgo new chocolate options to instead bring us “healthy fuel.”  The sweets giant announced it’s buying Krave Jerky, a California-based “premium jerky” brand, with no nitrates or artificial ingredients and fancy flavors like basil citrus, the UK’s Guardian reported. With its salty, meaty flavor and high protein content, jerky fits the requirement of being a savory snack that also has legit nutritional claims.According to market research firm IRI, jerky sales increased 13% from 2013-2014, totaling $1.4 billion. Perhaps this has something to do with recent attitude shifts concerning sugar, making us run the other way toward savory snacks? (Secret’s out: Sugar is bad for you, and you should be eating way less.) Or maybe it’s the high protein content. Either way, people love their jerky — and Krave’s ready to work the health angle to bring in more health-conscious lady customers especially.”It’s very inviting to a female consumer,” Krave founder Jon Sebastiani told the Guardian. He’s implying women are more health-conscious than men; or maybe, that we just actually pay attention to nutrition advice (sorry healthy men out there, stereotypes are no fun). Either way, we can assure you, the lower salt and cholesterol thing is enticing.READ MORE: Are You Getting Too Much Protein?

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