Fisherman's Friend

This article is about the throat lozenges. For the band, see Fisherman's Friends.
The image of a Middle-water side trawler that is found on all Fisherman's Friend products.

Fisherman's Friend is a brand of strong menthol lozenges produced by the Lofthouse company in Fleetwood, Lancashire, England.

History

Fisherman's Friend was originally developed by pharmacist James Lofthouse in 1865 to relieve various respiratory problems suffered by fishermen working in the extreme conditions of the Northern deep-sea fishing grounds. Though he developed it as an extremely strong liquid remedy containing menthol and eucalyptus oil, Lofthouse later made the liquid into small lozenges which were easier to transport and administer.[1] According to the manufacturer, the fishermen began to refer to the lozenges as "friends", hence the name. British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher is said to have used the product when her throat became strained from public speaking.[2]

The lozenges are relatively unchanged since their creation. The original paper packets later became foil-lined and packaged in a cardboard carton. In some locales the standard 25 gram paper-foil packs are replaced by collectable tins. In some promotional instances the manufacturer accepts, in exchange sending in certain numbers of the paper-foil packs, sending out tins to collectors.

Ingredients

Original Extra Strong lozenges contain sugar, liquorice extract, aniseed oil, menthol, eucalyptus oil, dextrin, tragacanth, and capsicum tincture.

The sugar free versions of the lozenges contain Sorbitol, Aspartame, Menthol, vegetable sourced Sucralose and Acesulfame K. Often they have anti-caking agents added such as Magnesium Stearate. Each different flavour will have unique ingredients. For example, the Blackcurrant flavour variant includes Elderberry juice extract.

Availability

A tin of Fisherman's Friend strong menthol lozenges

Fisherman's Friends are now available in over a hundred countries, in a variety of flavours, some of which are only available in certain countries.[1] Lofthouse provides a mail order service allowing UK residents to obtain some of the more exotic or difficult to find flavours. Some flavours are sugar-free, for which the bags are striped.

A 25g Tin of Fisherman's Friend distributed in Taiwan.

Containing sugar

Sugar-free

Lofthouse of Fleetwood Ltd. have won the Queen's Award to Industry for Export Achievement on three occasions.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Hardman, Robert (19 May 2009). "Lozenge that conquered the world: Fisherman's Friend have netted a packet for one very modest British family". Daily Mail. Retrieved 13 November 2013.
  2. ↑ Grandflame. "Grocery News from the Grocery Trader Magazine including all Grocer news today". Grocerytrader.co.uk. Retrieved 2014-04-03.

See also

External links

Note: the listed sites have different flavours available for specific countries only