Twisties are a type of cheese curl, corn-based
snack food product, available mainly in
Australia, and other
Oceanian countries such as
Papua New Guinea,
New Caledonia,
Vanuatu and
Fiji, the
Southeast Asian countries
Malaysia,
Thailand,
Singapore and
Brunei, and the island of
Mauritius in the Indian Ocean. It was launched in 1950 by the General Foods Corporation. The brand name is owned by
The Smith's Snackfood Company. While originally an Australian-owned company, Smith's was acquired in August 1998 by
Frito-Lay, the second largest producer of snack foods in Australia, which in turn is owned by American multi-national
PepsiCo. In Malaysia, Twisties is a product of
Mondelez International, after having been a part of
Danone and later,
Kraft Foods previously. In Thailand, the Twisties trademark is owned by
Lay's, which like The Smith's Snackfood Company, is owned by PepsiCo. In
New Zealand,
Malta and
Italy, Twisties are marketed under different names.