Suspected of being carcinogenic, the food additive E171 has been banned in France since January 1, 2020. To comply with this new regulation, the Mars Wrigley group had to develop a new recipe from M & M's.
The additive was used to ensure the shiny side of each ball-shaped candy. After hours of research and testing, the product was finally replaced by rice starch, reveals Les Echos .
An investment of 70 million euros
"It took 40,000 hours of research & development to rethink the methods of manufacturing our 22 ball colors," explains Stéphanie Domange, CEO of Mars Wrigley in France, at Les Echos . The company has invested 44 million euros to find this new recipe.
But in total, 70 million euros were invested in the Haguenau plant (Bas-Rhin), the second largest M & M's production unit in the world. And for good reason, Mars plans to double sales of this product in France over the next decade.
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