My sister Abby wrote to Wrigley to comment on the change in peppermint Altoids. Here’s part of the reply she got:

Thank you for contacting us to comment on your experience with Altoids® Peppermint Mints. We are always happy to hear from our consumers and truly value your feedback. By receiving input from consumers like you, we are able to constantly make improvements and ensure that we are always providing our consumers with the highest quality products.

The look of Extra packaging has recently been changed to make this brand more globally recognized. There was a slight change in formulation to the Extra Polar Ice gum at this time — there was no change to the Altoids mints.

We are sorry you had this experience with a Wrigley brand and appreciate your help in maintaining the quality of our product. We sincerely appreciate your patronage and send our best!

Sincerely,

Ryné King
Consumer Affairs Representative

“No change to the Altoids mints.” –Um, well, no, that can’t be right. There was a change to the Altoids mints. As I noted in an earlier post, the ingredients list on the newly redesigned packaging is significantly different than the ingredients list on the old packaging (and it would be a federal offense to falsify lists of ingredients).

And I’m not the only one to notice this change. For example, I got the following information from the Wikipedia entry on Altoids just now:

Ingredients and Nutritional Information
As of January, 2006

Peppermint: Sugar, oil of peppermint, gum arabic, gelatin, corn syrup. In April of 2006, the ingredients were changed to Sugar, gum arabic, artificial flavor ( Which caused the “Curiously Strong Peppermints” to lose some of their strength) , oil of peppermint ( a smaller percentage), gelatin, glucose syrup.

And see this blog entry, this blog entry, this blog entry, and this blog entry too.

Given the evidence of my senses, confirmed by other blogs, I have to assume that Ryné King is curiously wrong.

Update:

As of January, 2007, I can no longer find the “fake” Altoids for sale anywhere. Looks like Wrigley figured out what a mistake they had made, and went back to the old recipe. However, Altoids tins no longer proclaim “Made in Great Britain,” so that change remains.