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Tic Tac (officially styled as "tic tac") is a brand of small, hard sweets manufactured by the Italian confectioner Ferrero. The line is centered around breath mints, though the line includes non-mint flavors. The individual pieces are commonly called Tic Tacs themselves.
They were first produced in 1969 and have been a popular product throughout their history. They are usually sold in small transparent plastic boxes with a flip-action living hinge lid. Originally, Tic Tacs were dyed the specific colors. Now, in many countries, the transparent plastic boxes are colored for the specific flavors and the actual Tic Tacs inside are white.
Contents |
History
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The Tic Tac was first introduced in 1969.[1] Besides the original Fresh mint flavor, several new varieties were added over time, including: cinnamon (or "Winter Warmer"), orange, spearmint, peppermint, mandarin, wintergreen and lime. Its grape flavor was eliminated in 1976 because of health concerns about the red dye amaranth (FD&C Red #2), a suspected carcinogen. The Orange Tic Tacs continued on their own without the Grape. In 2005 a limited edition flavor of lemon was introduced.
Other innovations have included holiday gift packs for Christmas, Easter, St Patricks Day, and Valentine's Day.
Since 1980, its tag line has been "The 1½ Calorie Breath Mint." This has changed since the size of each individual piece was increased and the caloric value increased to 1.9 calories.
During the 1990s, "double packs" were introduced, featuring a regular Tic Tac container with two flavors inside. Available combinations were Tangerine & Lime, Orange & Grape, Berry & Cherry, and many more.
In the UK, Ireland and Australia Tic Tacs are noted as being less than 2 kilocalories with the slogan "2 hours of tic tac freshness in less than 2 calories". A more recent, humorous TV advertising campaign encourages potential purchasers in the UK to "Shake your tic tac". The most recent advertising campaign features the slogan "refreshing little lifts".
In Canada, New Zealand and Australia, the Tic Tac slogan is 'it's not just a mint, it's a tic tac'. In 2006, Tic Tac introduced a Bold edition with stronger flavors. With 1.9 kilocalories per mint (advertised as having "less than 2 calories") it comes in two flavors, Mint and Fruit.
Orange Tic Tacs are featured in the 2007 film Juno. Film promoters distributed boxes of the mints prior to the film's release.
In 2008, Tic Tac introduced Tic Tac Chill, which are slightly larger than ordinary Tic Tacs and come in a dual-opening packaging, using the traditional living hinge or a sliding opening on the front of the case. These currently come in three flavors, Exotic Cherry, Berry Blast, and Paradise Mint. Tic Tac Chill mints are also sugar-free, the Exotic Cherry ones instead being sweetened with xylitol and the Paradise Mint ones being sweetened with aspartame.
Flavors
Tic Tacs come in many different flavors. Here are some examples:
- Passion Fruit (also called Maracuja) (Summer edition, 2007, France; Netherlands; Australia, Latvia, Brazil, Belgium, United Kingdom and New Zealand)
- Mango (Summer edition, 2007, Australia, France, Hong Kong and Netherlands)
- Melon Mix (2008/2009) (Summer edition 2008 - Serbia/2009 - United Kingdom])
- Tropical Acerola (Summer edition, 2007, France; Australia, Netherlands, Latvia from 2008, Summer 2009 Germany)
- Pink Grapefruit (Summer edition, 2007, France and Australia)
- Cinnamon (first alternative flavor from 1970s, "limited edition" in UK called Winter Warmer)
- Tangerine
- Orange (added after the Tangerine was popular in the double pack)
- Wintergreen (added in 1980s)
- Cool Cherry (UK- added in 2008)
- Spearmint (added in 1980s)
- Lime (added in 1990s)
- Fresh mint (Europe/US); Peppermint (Australia)
- Fresh Melons (Germany)
- Fruit Festival (limited edition)
- Citrus Twist (limited edition)
- Tropical Twist (UK - passion fruit)
- Extra Mint Cherry (Brazil)
- Honeycomb
- Extra Strong
- Hexa (Brazil)
- Carnaval (Brazil)
- Bold! (strong flavors, fruit and mint varieties)
- Lemon Mint (Australia, Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Hong Kong and Poland)
- Eucalyptus (Winter edition, 2007, Poland and Slovakia)
- Paradise Mint CHILL (2008)
- Strawberry (2008) (Christmas Edition)
- Cherry (2008) (Summer edition, 2008, France)
- Up! (flavors like Passion Fruit and Acerola, with vitamin C) (Brazil)
- Alpine Mint (Germany)
- Cherry Passion (combo of cherry and passionfruit flavors)
- Citrus Punch (Limited Edition Big Box, triple flavor: Orange, lemon and grapefruit).
Nutrition facts
For Fresh mint (Europe/US); Peppermint (Australia)
Nutritional Information
Per 100 g - Energy 1658 kJ (390 kcal), Protein 0 g, Carbohydrate 97.5 g, Fat 0 g.
Per Tic Tac - Energy 8.5 kJ (2 kcal), Protein 0 g, Carbohydrate 0.5 g, Fat 0 g.
Ingredients
Sugar, high Fructose corn syrup, Rice Starch, Dextrin, Stabilizer (Gum Arabic), Flavorings, Glazing Agent (Carnauba wax), Filling Agent (Magnesium stearate).
Each pack weighs 15-18 g and contains about 36 Tic Tacs. New packs in Australia weigh 24 g and contain 50 Tic Tacs, and the Tic Tac "Big Box" weighs 49 g and contains 100 Tic Tacs. The "Big Pack" weights 29 grams (1 ounce) and contains 59 pieces.
Each Tic Tac weighs just under 0.5 g. Since US federal regulations state that if a single serving contains less than 0.5 g of sugars it is allowable to express the amount of sugar in a serving as zero[2], and since a single serving of Tic Tacs is a single Tic Tac, Tic Tacs are labeled in the US as containing zero sugar.
References
- ^ "Tic Tac's Web Flavor". Business Week. August 13, 2006. http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/aug2006/id20060814_452592.htm?chan=top+news_top+news. Retrieved on 2008-11-09.
- ^ 21 CFR 101.9 (c)(6)(ii)
External links
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