Dear Sir / Madam, I am trying to find out who makes a mint product
that I am interested in. For an example of the mint product, please
refer to the site. www.flatmints.com

As far as I can find out this product is made in Japan, I have found a
few sites that sell the product, but I am actually looking for the
maker of the product.

Any information you can provide me would be very useful. Other sites
that sell them, etc.

Kind Regards

James Rees

Hi James,

   Apparently, flatmints is manufactured by Flat Mints Ltd., which is
located in London. I don't know where you got the information that it
is manufactured in Japan.

Contact Details :-

Flat Mints Ltd
111, Burbage Road
Dulwich Village
London
se21 7af 
(P) 07813 655 657

A list of their clients, found at
http://www.flatmints.com/clients.htm, show that they have some very
reputed clients like STAR.

My personal opinion of flatmints is that it is no different from
tic-tac, or chlormint.

Interestingly, the Y-Club (YUP) website
(http://www.yup.co.uk/subscription/subs_login.asp) has the following
sentence :
"You may have seen our Flat Mints which we use as a marketing tool"

Furthermore, the flatmints.com website is designed and hosted by the
Tillmouth Website Company
(http://www.tillmouth.com/details/clients.htm), which is based in UK.
This only strenghtens the fact that flatmints is an English product,
not a Japanese one.

http://www.sohotels.com/minty.html is a site which sells flatmints,
but only bulk orders (10,000+) are preferred. Smaller orders are taken
at a premium.

I hope this answer has cleared your doubts. If you have a
clarification, then please do ask. I'll be satisfied only if you are.
Otherwise, feel free to rate the answer.

Have a good day
aditya2k

Search Terms
flatmints
Flat Mints

---

Request for Answer Clarification by reesy-ga on 13 Aug 2002 06:20 PDT

Hi, I thought I would post some more information on here, as I am
still trying to find a direct supplier of this product.

The facts,

The following websites sell this product, www.flatmints.com,
www.yup.co.uk
The main ingrediant is Pullulan.

Pullulan was invented by the hayashibara company, and sells this
product to Pfizer.

I am trying to find the company that actually makes the mint product
and then sells them to companies such as www.flatmints.com

Various sources have stated they are made either in Japan or Europe,
but nobody can find the company!

Could somebody try to research into finding the actual companies that
make these mints.

Thank you all for you help so far, I think we are getting nearer and
it is only time before I can contact the company directly.

Thanks

James

Thanks for everybodies help, esp czh-ga, who has found information
that I had not, the other researchers only came back with information
I had already found. Where czh-ga has found other material and then
searched other relevant information. I will be sure to promote this
service, and no doubt will be asking more questions! Thanks again
James Rees

Hi James,

I haven't been able to find the manufacturer.  They seem to be more
frequently referred to as Cello-Mints, you will find lots of places
which sell them under this name.  There is also a similar product with
cinammon flavour. The price varies from $1.35 to about $2.80 per pack.
They seem to be offered mainly by companies supplying promotional
products, and the price includes having your own logo on the pack.

James,

HI!  Aren't these the same thing: 
http://www.oral-care.com/conaffairs/oral_care17.shtml

Here's a game: http://www.pocketpaks.com/
And a review: http://www.flakmag.com/misc/listerine.html

Tom

Its not the exact same thing, its different products...except that
they serve the same purpose. There are 'n' number of avatars of this
type of mint

Hello reesy,

This is truly awful stuff that made me sputter and spit the first time
someone gave me one so I decided to try to track it down. You were
right about the Japanese connection. It goes by various names but it
originated with the Hayashibara company in Japan.

I searched on breath mint strips and came up with an article that
discussed the invention of the strips by Dr. Richard W. D'Souza, the
vice president for oral health care of Pfizer.
http://www.halimeter.com/nytbbart.htm
This article mentioned that "the notion for the PocketPaks originated
in Japan, where pullulan is used in candy and also as an edible paper
to wrap candies and mints." The article also talks at great length
about the whole oral hygene industry and American obsession with
"Breath Mints: A Hot War for America's Cool Mouths."

Searching on pullulan I quickly found an article detailing the
Hayashibara company's license agreement with Pfizer.
http://www.hayashibara.co.jp/eng/hotnews/press/pullulan_e.html
HAYASHIBARA IN WORLDWIDE LICENSE AND SUPPLY AGREEMENT WITH PFIZER
USING PULLULAN FOR ORAL USE

Hayashibara is a large Japanese pharmaceutical company. You can check
out their Web pages and contact them as shown.
http://www.hayashibara.co.jp
http://www.hayashibara.co.jp/eng/index.html
For inquiries, 
Public Relations, Hayashibara Co., Ltd.
TEL086-224-4315@FAX086-224-4577
MAIL to : koho@hayashibara.co.jp
http://www.hayashibara.co.jp/eng/contents_g.html
HAYASHIBARA BIOCHEMICAL LABS
086-224-4312
2-3, SHIMOISHI 1-CHOME
700 OKAYAMA JAPAN

I hope this helps you track down the original inventor of the product.

Good luck.

czh

Thanks for your help guys, esp czh-ga. I am going to check out the
Japanese pharmaceutical company.

I have managed to obtain most of the websites that sell the product. I
am really trying to track down the maker of the product.

I am also trying to track down if there is a patent in the uk for this
product, should I raise another question - or are you able to answer
this aswell.

Once again, thanks for your help so far.

James Rees
London

I did do a quick search on the patents database at
http://ep.espacenet.com/ using Flatmint and Flat Mint as the search
terms, but drew a blank.

James,

I took another look using the search terms edible microfilm and came
up with some further leads for pursuing your quest.Here's some more
information for you to consider.

I found another manufacturer in Korea. I also found a technical paper
on edible films which led me to the Institute for Food Technologists
and their InfoSource portal. They might be able to lead you to more
information about manufacturers, technology vendors, patent
information and more.

Good luck.

czh

http://www.ihk.de/tam/2kbp.htm
KBP Co., Ltd.
Bio-Technology Venture Company
Name : Lee, Sang-Jae
Address : 10F New World B/D, Kuro 5 dong, Kuro-gu, Seoul, 152-055,
Korea
TEL : +82-2-857-0773
E-mail : kbpco@kbpco.com
Possible areas of application: Pullulan is water soluble and has a
possibility of industrial application as adhesive, a fiber supporter,
a film making agent, a coating material, an additive to ester
compound.

http://www.kbpco.com/English/images/contact/kbp_contact.html
Head Office  : KITECH 3F 303, 101-1 Shihwa Industrial Complex 3 ga, 
Jungwang-dong, Shiheung-si, Kyung-gi-do, Korea 
Tel : +82 - 31 - 319-0601/2 Fax : +82 - 31 - 319-0603  
See also additional contacts for R&D, Marketing, Production, etc.

http://www.kbpco.com/English/images/sub/news/kbp_news.html
"This company has developed the mouth cleansing film (mouth refresher)
with Pullulan and is preparing to export to the US. KBP expects this
product alone would export 7 billion won a year."

http://www.ift.org/
Institute for Food Technologists

http://www.infosource.ift.org/
IFT InfoSource is the information portal site of the Institute of Food
Technologists, and serves as a comprehensive directory to food science
and technology resources on the Internet.

http://ift.confex.com/ift/2001/techprogram/paper_8310.htm
73D-39 Technical Program Listing
2001 IFT Annual Meeting, June 23-June 27, New Orleans, LA 
Characteristics of pullulan-based edible films  
K. C. HEO, J. J. Lee, S. Y. Park, and J. W. Rhim. Department of Food
Engineering, Mokpo National University, 61 Dorimri, Chungkyemyon,
Muangun, Chonnam, 534-729, South Korea

Ok..I know this question is long-since answered, but I just finally
got an email reply from Flatmints (I figured may as well ask them
directly!) and here's what I got back from Marcus Reoch:

"Dear K.
 
Please find attached all relevant information (literature and
pricelist) relating to our product, the flatmint. The product is
manufactured through us and all branding and distribution is done in
Europe.
 
thanks
 
marcus
+07813 655 657

[note: the attachment was not attached so that's all I have]

Better late than never -K~