Bad News for the Candy Man

MasterFoods, the manufacturer of Mars and Snickers chocolate bars had to pull tens of thousands of chocolate bars in July from over 40,000 outlets around Australia after receiving three threatening letters since May claiming that seven contaminated Mars and Snickers bars had been placed in shops around Sydney.

"No one should eat a Mars bar or a Snickers bar they have bought," said Andy Weston-Webb, the president of MasterFoods Australia and New Zealand. "Please destroy it … It's not safe to eat Mars or Snickers bars." Uff! That´s not something I´m sure the MasterFoods Marketing Department had a hard time listening to.

An earlier letter, sent to the Ballarat office in June, included a contaminated Snickers bar. Tests concluded that is was laced with a pesticide-like substance that could be harmful to children.

Police called the whole ordeal an extortion attempt, but Detective Superintendent Cotter would not say what demands, if any, had been made. The letters did not contain demands for money, but the sender made a series of complaints to a "third party".

"The demands are rambling and extremely hard to follow," he said. The letters contained "veiled threats and demands. It's extremely unclear as to what the perpetrator wants to achieve."

Less than a week after the recall, more than three million chocolate bars were crushed and then deep buried at Lucas Heights a suburb of Sydney.

"We've discussed this destruction process with the NSW Health Authority, they believe deep burial represents the most secure, most environmentally sound and most efficient way of disposing of this quantity of product," said MasterFoods regional president Andy Weston-Webb.

"Nobody has been hospitalised, several people have visited hospital but none have been admitted and the symptoms have been as broad as people having a headache, flu like symptoms, several people have been nauseous," he said.

"In every case we've taken it seriously but there is no established pattern and I'm happy to say that no one has reported to have eaten a Mars or Snickers bar since Tuesday." Can you hear the Marketing Departments death rattle?

It's not yet known when the chocolate bars will be returned to store shelves, with MasterFoods saying it will consult the NSW Police and health authorities before making a decision.

Sources: smh.com.au, July 2, 2005
IndustrySearch.com, July 7, 2005