Hershey rethinking design of its crack-bag-looking breath mint

HARRISBURG - The Hershey Co. said yesterday it was considering changes to the design of a mint that Philadelphia police say looks nearly identical to a tiny heat-sealed bag used to sell powdered street drugs.

The revelation by the nation's largest candy-maker came a week after Daily News columnist Jill Porter, citing the packaging of Ice Breakers Pacs, complained that they resembled packets of crack cocaine.

A Hershey spokesman, however, would not specify yesterday the exact concerns that prompted the company to act.

"It was certainly never our intention to create any confusion with this product," company spokesman Kirk Saville said.

"We take consumer and community feedback very seriously and are acting quickly to address concerns."

Ice Breakers Pacs, which first hit store shelves last month, are nickel-sized dissolvable pouches with a powdered sweetener inside. The pouches come in blue or orange and bear the Ice Breakers logo.

Hershey has said that the mints were never intended to resemble anything - but the similarity was so striking that longtime veterans of Philadelphia's police narcotics squad were fooled when they saw the mints.

Philadelphia police Chief Inspector William Blackburn last week charged that the mints glorify the drug trade.

And he warned that the resemblance could have consequences if, for example, a child familiar with the mints swallows a heat-sealed bag of cocaine.

"If Hershey is considering changes, that's a good thing, that's the prudent thing to do," Blackburn said yesterday. "And that's what we wanted - we wanted to prevent a tragedy."

After Philadelphia police went public with their concerns, they heard from law-enforcement agencies from as far away as Kansas City, Blackburn said. *