Do they still make Certs? Life Savers have been saving bad breath for over a century and Altoids have been curiously strong for even longer. There was a time when it seemed like Certs was going to topple them all. However, there’s neither hide nor hair of Certs in the checkout aisle these days, while all their competitors persist. So what happened to Certs?
What are Certs?
The Certs brand hit the market in 1956, deriving its name from being “certified” fresh and minty by Good Housekeeping magazine. Their early aggressive ad campaign had a pair of twins arguing if they were breath mints or candy mints like candy canes. Spoiler alert: They’re both! At least that’s what they advertised.
Eventually, the brand was forced to pick a side between breath mint and candy mint by the U.S. government. In 1999, U.S. Customs declared it a candy mint, which subjected it to certain tariffs when being imported or exported; these tariffs did not apply to oral hygiene products.
As you can all imagine, Certs parent company, Cadbury, was not going to sit idly by and let some pesky tariff eat into their profits. So what did they do? Waged an extensive and costly lawsuit that, ultimately, allowed Certs to be classified as a breath mint and skirt that dang tariff.
What happened to Certs?
The thing about Certs as a “mint” is that it did not contain a single piece of the actual mint plant. From the beginning, they advertised being made from something called Retsyn, which is a combination of artificial flavors, partially hydrogenated cottonseed oil, and copper gluconate.
The copper gluconate was responsible for the blue-green flecks in each mint, giving the appearance of something like toothpaste that is good for a fresh, clean mouth. Even stranger, the partially hydrogenated cottonseed oil is a product often used in food products that have Olestra in them, the infamous ‘90s diet food craze that leads to leakage from a certain body part.
As the decades passed and consumers became more aware of the ingredients in their processed foods, it stands to reason that a mint with such strange ingredients would come under intense scrutiny. Certs’ popularity waned until its final nail in the coffin.
Why were Certs discontinued?
In 2015, the FDA made a ruling about partially hydrogenated oils, saying that they were no longer “generally recognized as safe.” PHOs are made when a vegetable oil is injected with hydrogen. This increases the oil’s shelf life but also creates more trans fats in the oil. Regular consumption of trans fats can lead to a significant rise in heart disease.
For a mint that has partially hydrogenated oil as one of its special ingredients, this meant the end for Certs. By 2018, the brand was discontinued.
