A foreign object that may be the root of a peanut plant was found inside a bag of candy recently. (Staff photo)
By MICHAEL RODRIGUEZ
Managing Editor
editor@sbnewspaper.com
Carlos and Nydia Cañas of San Benito found a little surprise inside a bag of peanut M&Ms.
A foreign object believed to be a piece of wood or possibly a root from a peanut plant was found covered in milk chocolate inside a bag of M&Ms by Nydia, Carlos’ wife as she was driving Friday morning.
According to Carlos, a local singer, educator and board member of the San Benito Economic Development Corporation, the bag of M&Ms was purchased at a rest area on their way back from a trip to Austin on Tuesday.
“We were coming back from a trip because I was singing up there (Austin), and I opened the bag that day and ate a few while on the way back,” Carlos said Friday. “I only ate one or two, put it away, and she opened the bag today and started eating it on the way to Brownsville.”
“She tried biting into it (foreign object),” he added. “It was in her mouth and she tried chewing it. She thought maybe it’s a piece of pretzel.”
But it wasn’t a pretzel.
After identifying that the object was not candy, Carlos said he called Mars Chocolate North America, the company that manufacturers and markets M&Ms, to notify them of their discovery.
“John, a supervisor, said they’d send us a package so we could send back the M&Ms, and they’d send us a coupon for M&Ms,” Carlos said.
Still, the couple believes that the matter warrants further investigation and stressed that the public learn of their experience.
“I was afraid,” Carlos said. “If it would have been a little boy or little girl eating this, or an older person, they could have choked to death. Don’t assume what you’re eating just because it says peanuts.”
Mars Chocolate North America provided the following statement via email in response to the incident:
Mars is committed to providing its consumers with the highest quality products, and all of our facilities institute the industry’s most stringent quality control procedures. While complaints such as this one are extremely rare, we take every consumer inquiry seriously and conduct a thorough investigation of all potential issues. As an important part of this investigation, we have asked the consumer to provide us with the remaining product for evaluation. We have not received any additional calls about this issue and routine inspections indicate that manufacturing processes at our facilities are operating normally.
Besides sending the bag of candy back to the company, Carlos and Nydia said they don’t plan on taking further action on the matter.
To read this story in print, pick up a copy of the July 15 edition of the San Benito News, or subscribe to our E-Edition by clicking here.
14 comments
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I also was eating m& m’s bit down on something hard saved it turned it on to Mars but no reply
Will be taking the container back to the store for a refund..won’t ever but again or let my family eat them. Will tell everyone about this incident
The same thing happened to me! It was in my Halloween candy. I got a small, FUN SIZE milk chocolate bag, and when I opened it, I noticed there was like, a “white rock” in it. I carefully bit into it because I tried convincing myself it was just the undyed part of the M&M, but it wasn’t.
My wife and I just found an orange color object about the size of a thumb. Feels like it’s a hard rubber. I can barely bend it so it is plyable. Object is an off white and has orange Cheeto like residew on it. Call the company they want us to send them photos. They are sending us free coupons to reimburse our purchase. We feel disgusting bc we eat a few before we found this object. Had peanut butter 1 lb family pack. We were eating them straight out the bag watching Christmas movies. That’s when my wife discovered it.
Woodscraftman@gmail.com you can email me if you are interested in how the story ends.
Thanks
Hello, I just eaten some of the plain candy and a piece is hard. The color is orange and it’s not candy. I wish I could post these pictures.
I have also had this issue with a bag of peanut m&m’s, but it did actually break one of my teeth, I will be making a complaint in the morning, I am from Scotland, it looks like a stone I still have it in the m&m bag the colour is yellow, boy did it hurt like heck, still does I am petrified of the dentist
This has literally just happened to my partner from a packet of Chocolate M&Ms! We’re in Ireland and only bought the packet a few nights ago. It looks like a tiny marbled stone you’d see at the beach.
Today I opened a bag of peanut m&m’s when I bit into one and thought I broke my tooth. I spit it out and it was hard white porcelain looking. Thought it was my tooth at first but after checking all my teeth I realized it came from the m&m. My tooth is still in some discomfort as I type this several hours later. I saves the bag and foreign object in a zip lock bag. Oddly enough I bought my m&m’s in Austin Texas as well.
I had a small hard white object in my m&m from an 18oz bag. I thought at first I had broken a tooth.
I have also sent off to Mars a wooden object found inside my m&m which looks to be part of a peanut plant I sent this off over 3 weeks ago along with the packet and the object I have sent pictures also I will be taking this matter further as myself and my little girl was eating these and now I won’t let my little one go near this chocolate ever again as the object chipped my tooth
This happened to me too
I just bit into an M&M with this same stuff inside! It hurt my teeth and surprised the heck out of me. What is this stuff and why is it in my candy?!
I had the same issue today i was at work and i purchased a bag of m&m’s today, i got to the end of the bag and noticed a m&m that was much bigger then the rest so i bit into it, as i bit down i had a sharp pain on my tooth i looked down and inspected the m&m and saw that it was not a peanut but to my surprise something that looks like a stick, i showed my coworkers and put it back in the bag. Since then i have been experiencing pain on the right side of my mouth. I will contact mars tomorrow in the morning to place a complaint as well.
Hmmm…lawsuit? If not, then this is NO NEWS.
YES!! Lawsuit. I opened my bag of M&M’s to find a big glob of what looks to be chewed M&M’s encased in a chocolate CLUMP! No coupon is going to resolve this one! Thanks Luna.