Business Notes SNACKS

What Ronald Reagan did for jellybeans during his tenure in the White House, George Bush may do for pork rinds. A presidential predilection for the crunchy puffs of pigskin is bringing fresh popularity to what was previously regarded as a regional delicacy of the South. The snack is made by cooking small pieces of pigskin and dunking the shrunken pellets in fat heated to 400 degrees F. At that point they explode like popcorn.

Chicago's Evans Food Products, which claims to be the largest U.S. pork-rind producer, predicts that annual sales in the $200 million-a-year industry will rise 10% during 1989. Evans hopes to profit from the pork rind's upper-crust patron with a new brand called Presidential Pork Rinds, which features a red- white-and-blue label. The company is planning promotional stickers that will proclaim SKINS ARE IN!