Chips are very often added into salads, including salami salad, or even used to bread chicken. So the risk of milk and meat is extrmely real. (And I love Beigel & Beigel’s sour cream flavored chips in salads.)
So yes consumers have to be vigilant, but even more so the kashrus agency as many people trust them blindly, and causing others to sin and placing a stumbling block in front of somebody are both severe transgressions.