A highway incident in Wisconsin revealed that a defective batch of Skittles had made its way into the cattle feed pipeline.
The Hackettstown-based Mars Inc. is investigation how a large box of defective red Skittles ended up strewn on a highway in Wisconsin, where they were apparently headed to be cattle feed.
The weird episode has pulled back the curtain on a little-known aspect of modern-day agriculture: Livestock are often fed unwanted human food, including candy.
The Skittles that fell off a flatbed truck onto a Dodge County, Wisc., highway last week were missing the 'S' imprinted on them - a sign they had been deemed defective by the candy company.
"The product involved in this spill was intended to be destroyed. There was a power outage at our factory, and the Skittles batch couldn't be completed and was thus discarded," said a Mars spokesman. "We don't know how it ended up as it did and we are investigating. There is a regulated process by which discarded food products, including candy, are added to animal feed. In those cases, third parties buy the product for that ultimate use."
Linda Kurtz, a corporate environmental manager at Mars, told The Associated Press the company sells unused candies and ingredients to processors that incorporate them with other materials to make animal feed. She said Mars does not sell directly to farmers, and its procedures follow Food and Drug Administration regulations.
Kurtz said Mars determined the spilled Skittles came from its plant in Yorkville, Illinois, which does not sell products for animal feed. The other U.S. plant that makes Skittles, in Waco, Texas, sells to a local processor that melts them down into syrup.
In short, while the company confirmed it sells candy that goes into animal feed, these particular Skittles from this particular plant were not supposed to be part of that process.
Kathleen O'Brien may be reached at kobrien@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @OBrienLedger. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
- The Associated Press contributed to this report.