Registry

Does Lay's support Israel?

Support documentedupdated 2026-07-30

Yes — Lay's has documented support for Israel on record. Every claim below links to its source.

Filed under: Food & beverage brands · Companies that support Israel

Background

Lay's is a Frito-Lay brand of PepsiCo, and no donation, statement or campaign concerning Israel has been documented for the Lay's brand itself. Its Israel link is industrial: since 1992 the local salty-snack range, sold in Israel as Tapuchips, has been made in Sderot by Strauss Frito Lay Ltd., the 50/50 joint venture between PepsiCo's Frito-Lay and Israel's Strauss Group — a joint venture, not a Lay's subsidiary, and its actions belong to it. Parent-level items sit on the PepsiCo page: the PepsiCo Foundation's $1 million October 2023 pledge to humanitarian organizations serving Israel and Gaza with 2-to-1 employee matching, and the $3.2 billion acquisition of Israel's SodaStream in 2018. Viral posts calling Lay's an Israeli product are false — Lay's was founded in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1932, and fact-checkers have said so; the brand simply trades under different names in different countries (Walkers in Britain, Chipsy in Egypt, Sabritas in Mexico, Tapuchips in Israel). The BDS movement's official target list names PepsiCo-owned SodaStream, not Lay's.

Fact Crescendo (Pepsi/Lay's not Israeli products) JLens (PepsiCo Foundation pledge) Haaretz (PepsiCo buys SodaStream) BDS movement — what to boycott

Timeline of documented support

19982002200620102014201820221999 — Partnership: Strauss Frito Lay Ltd. (50/50 joint venture with Israel's Strauss Group)Partnership19992023-10 — Operations in Israel: Sderot plant workers and the surrounding Gaza-border communitiesOperations in Israel2023-10

Documented support

TypeDateAmountRecipientSources
Partnership1999$10,000,000Strauss Frito Lay Ltd. (50/50 joint venture with Israel's Strauss Group)
PepsiCo's Frito-Lay division paid about $10 million in 1999 for 50% of the Israeli salty-snack business of Elite (now the Strauss Group), creating Strauss Frito Lay Ltd. — a 50/50 joint venture holding the exclusive licence to manufacture, distribute and sell Frito-Lay salty, spicy and extruded snacks in Israel. Elite had taken the Frito-Lay licence in 1991 and begun local production at its Sderot plant in 1992. PepsiCo listed "Strauss Frito Lay Ltd. — Israel" in the subsidiaries exhibit of its 10-K. In Israel the Lay's potato-chip line is sold under the local name Tapuchips by this joint venture, not by a Lay's or PepsiCo subsidiary.
Operations in Israel2023-10—Sderot plant workers and the surrounding Gaza-border communities
Strauss Frito Lay — the PepsiCo/Strauss joint venture that makes the Lay's line (Tapuchips) in Israel, not PepsiCo itself — restarted its Sderot salty-snack plant about a week after the 7 October 2023 attack, when Israeli factories in Sderot and Sha'ar HaNegev resumed work under army protection. Company managers went onto the production line, sent clean-up crews to homes damaged by rocket fire and delivered supply packages to employees' families; the plant buys roughly 85% of its potatoes from Gaza-border farmers. This is the joint venture's action, and it is operational and welfare support for its own workforce and region, not a donation to the Israeli state or military.

Frequently asked questions

Did Lay's donate money to Israel or Israeli causes?

We have no records of cash donations, but Lay's has documented support of other kinds (Partnership, Operations in Israel). See the records on this page.

Where does this information come from?

Every record on this page links to its source — news reports, official company statements, tax filings, or government records. 9 distinct sources are cited for Lay's. Our methodology page explains the full verification process.

Sources & citations

Record last updated: 2026-07-30

Companies with documented support