For the past 55 years, Mister Bee's potato chips were fried in a blend of soybean and cottonseed oils. In March, that changed to 100 percent cottonseed oil, said Alan Klein, chief executive officer. Almost immediately, the company's Parkersburg offices were flooded with calls from customers who were not happy with the change.

"The government wants all food manufacturers in the country to make healthier products," Klein said. "Rather than wait, we decided to take the bull by the horns.

"We did testing in the fall on different types of oils. We determined that (100 percent cottonseed oil) is as close as what we were using as possible."

But Klein did not anticipate such a strong reaction from customers.

"I've never seen anything like this," he said. "It shows that we have a very loyal customer base."

The soybean oil used in the original blend contains trans fat, which causes health problems such as arteriosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries, Klein said. Cottonseed oil contains no trans fat.

"Some people who called said that if they wanted to eat healthy, they wouldn't be eating potato chips," Klein said.

"We're not marketing it has healthy food," he added. "It's just better for you."

The switch to cottonseed oil was done with no fanfare, and the chips will continue to be sold in the same familiar packaging with no mention of the change, Klein said. The only packaging difference is the "0" after trans fat in the nutritional information box on the back of each bag, he said.

Klein has been able to ease the concerns of some of the customers who called the office upset about the change, he said.

"Once we explained to them what we were doing -- about the trans fats in the oil -- most of them thought it was a good thing," Klein said. "Ninety-nine percent of those ones who called, once it was explained to them, said that they liked the old taste better."

Although some customers have initially reacted negatively to the change, in the long run eliminating trans fat from the product could prove to be a good marketing move, he said. Klein foresees a day when the government will require food companies to place warning labels on products containing trans fat. That could cause an even greater negative reaction among customers, he said.

Switching cooking oils has captured attention across the state, even in areas Mister Bee's is not sold, Klein said. The company's marketing area runs from the New Martinsville and Moundsville area in the north to the Huntington-Charleston area in the south and from the Ohio River in the west to Interstate 79 in the east.

But Klein has received clippings from newspapers from as far away as the Eastern Panhandle, he said.

A San Francisco-based advocacy group that promotes more healthful food products also heard about the story and contacted Klein, he said.

"They gave me the name of a company that makes a soybean oil with no trans fat," Klein said. "I just received a sample of it. We haven't had a chance to test it yet."

Although it is possible after testing, the company might opt to change to the trans fatless soybean oil, which Klein presumes would taste much like the original blend, he suspects the new recipe will grow on customers.

"People are getting used to it," he said.

Klein's father founded Mister Bee's in Parkersburg in 1951. Klein has been in the chip business since 1961, and now his two sons are involved. Douglas Klein is president and chief operating officer of the company, and Andrew Klein is head of purchasing.

The plant, which sits along West Virginia Avenue, uses 2,000 pounds of oil and 32,000 pounds of potatoes each day, Klein said. It takes 10 minutes for a potato to go from a storage crate, through the peeler, slicer, washer, the 65-foot-long cooker and 40 feet of conveyer belt to the packaging equipment, Klein said. They can produce up to 40 bags each minute.

Last year, Mister Bee's sales exceeded $4 million, Klein said. He anticipates the company will continue to grow despite the recent recipe change. Although he does not predict any lasting effects from the switch, Klein said he would do things a bit differently had he known what the customer reaction would be.

"If we could do it over again, we would change it gradually over a two-year period," he said. "That way, they would be able to adjust and not even notice."