A mysterious Skittles spill on a rural highway in the United States is taking another twist, with Mars Inc saying it doesn't know why the discarded candy might have been headed to become cattle feed.
The case began when a Wisconsin sheriff posted on Facebook this week that "hundreds of thousands of Skittles" had been found spilled on a highway. Later, he updated the post to say the sweets had fallen off a truck on its way to be cattle feed.
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'Skittles are candy, refugees are people'
The maker of Skittles candies offers a blunt response to a social media post by Donald Trump Jr. in which he compares Syrian refugees to poisoned Skittles.
Only red Skittles had spilled out, and Dodge County Sheriff Dale Schmidt joked in the post that it would be difficult to "Taste the Rainbow" in its entirety. The incident gained attention after CNN wrote about it, citing a report from a local affiliate.
A variety of food by-products are commonly used for animal feed, and Mars says it has procedures for discarding foods for that purpose. However, the company says the Skittles in question came from a factory that doesn't sell unused products for feed.
"We don't know how it ended up as it did and we are investigating," Mars said.
Schmidt said one of his deputies came across the spill and sent him photos, which he posted on Facebook. He said the Skittles spilled from a box that started to disintegrate in the rain, and about half of them got out. The Skittles on the ground did not have the standard letter "S" on them, he said.
The sheriff said he spoke with the farmer, but declined to immediately give the farmer's name and did not respond when asked by email how the office connected the Skittles with the farmer.
Mars spokeswoman Denise Young said the Skittles were supposed to be destroyed because a power outage prevented the signature "S" from being placed on the candies. She said Mars planned to contact the sheriff's office and the farmer to find out more.
Linda Kurtz, a corporate environmental manager at Mars, said 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.
AP