The Snack That Smiles Back^®!
Goldfish are fish-shaped cheese crackers manufactured by Pepperidge Farm, which is a division of the Campbell Soup Company.^[1] The crackers have been available in several varieties and, since 1962, 40% of the crackers contain a small imprint of an eye and a smile.^[2] The brand's current marketing and product packaging incorporate this feature of the product: "The Snack That Smiles Back! Goldfish!", reinforced by Finn, the smiling mascot with sunglasses.^[1] The product is marketed as a "baked snack cracker" on the label with various flavors and varieties.^[3][4]

History

Originally invented by Oscar J. Kambly at Swiss biscuit manufacturer Kambly in 1958^[5][6] to celebrate his wife who was a Pisces,^[7] Goldfish snacks were introduced to the United States in 1962 by Pepperidge Farm founder Margaret Rudkin.^[8][9][10]

Flavors

Goldfish come in many varieties, but start/end dates of availability are unknown:

• Original,^[11][12] also known as Saltine.
• Cheddar
• Whole Grain Cheddar
• Cheese Trio ^[11]
• Parmesan ^[11]
• Pretzel ^[11]
• Pizza ^[11]
• Ranch ^[13]
• Baby (Miniature crackers) ^[14]
• Grahams ^[15] (Honey, Cinnamon, Chocolate, Vanilla, S'mores, Hot Cocoa, Vanilla Cupcake, Cookies 'n Cream, Chocolate Chip, French Toast, Strawberry Shortcake, Honey Bun)
• Nacho
• Queso Fiesta
• White Cheddar
• Sour Cream and Onion
• Salt and Vinegar
• BBQ
• Rainbow^[16]
• Cupcake
• Whole Grain pretzel
• Xplosive Pizza
• Blasted Atomic BBQ
• Fudge Brownie
• Mix (formerly Mix-up Adventures) (pretzel and xtra cheddar, pretzel and honey mustard, chocolate mint pretzel)
• Puffs^[15][17] (cheddar bacon, mega cheese, salsa con queso, buffalo wing, twisted grilled cheese, sizzlin' hot wings, BBQ)
• Cheeseburger
• Sesame ^[11]
• Mac & Cheese ^[15][18]
• Xtra Cheddar
• X-Treme Zingy Chili Lime
• X-treme Screamin' Hot

Different shapes and colors

These different-shaped Goldfish are all cheddar flavored. There are also different Goldfish mixtures, which are two flavors combined.

• Puffs – launched in the United States in 2013 ^[17][19]
• Christmas (only available at Christmas)
• Colors (same shape as original but different colors using natural colors, Colors: Yellow, orange, purple, red and green)
• World Treasures
• Space Adventures (colored)
• Beach ball
• Princess (colored pink)
• Cars 3 (red crackers in the shape of Lightning McQueen)
• Mickey Mouse (red crackers in shape of Mickey Head)

Discontinued products

• PhysEdibles – prepared using whole-grains^[20]
• Giant Sandwich Crackers
• Giant Goldfish ^[11]
• Sandwich Snackers
• Garden Cheddar
• Flavor Blasted Grahams
• Cinabuddy Snack Bites

International distribution

Goldfish crackers in a bowl
Goldfish are exported and sold in countries around the world. In the UK, they are sold under the name "Finz",^[21] but the product is identical. In Switzerland, the original Goldfish flavor is marketed under the brand name Goldfischli.^[1]

Spin-offs

Pepperidge Farm has created several spin-off products including Goldfish Sandwich Crackers, Flavor-Blasted Goldfish,^[13][15] Goldfish bread, multi-colored Goldfish (known as Goldfish-American), and Baby Goldfish (which are smaller than normal). There are also seasonably available color-changing Goldfish, colored Goldfish (come in a variety pack). There was reportedly once a line of Goldfish cookies in vanilla and chocolate; chocolate has reappeared in the "100 calorie" packs.

Goldfish noodles also can be found in Campbell's chicken noodle, tomato, and meatball soup. The Goldfish shaped noodles in the tomato soup have been discontinued.

Legal issues

In 1999, Campbell Soup Co.'s Pepperidge Farm won a court case involving Nabisco's Cheese Nips CatDog crackers that had fish-shaped crackers that resembled Goldfish. The court ordered Nabisco to refrain from using the goldfish shape and to recall all their products that included the fish shape.^[22]

Recalls

On July 23, 2018, Pepperidge Farms was notified by one of its ingredient suppliers that whey powder (in a seasoning applied to four varieties of Goldfish crackers) may have the presence of salmonella. The Flavored Blasted Xtra Cheddar crackers were recalled due to a possible risk of the salmonella outbreak. Three other Goldfish varieties (Flavored Blast Sour Slammin' Cream and Onion, Whole Grain Xtra Cheddar, and Goldfish Mix Xtra Cheddar and Pretzel) were also recalled due to contamination of the salmonella bacterium caused by whey powder. The contaminated varieties of Goldfish were immediately removed from all stores they were sold at following the recall.^[23]

Popular culture

Julia Child liked Goldfish crackers so much, that on Thanksgiving, she often put out a bowl, alongside her famous reverse martini.^[24]