Posts Tagged ‘Science Mystery’
A Tooth in an M&M?
by azmanam on Sep 12 2009 (14526 Views)
A Raleigh, NC, woman bit into a peanut M&M… and something didn’t feel right. Instead of a peanut, she found… this (Via the Raleigh News & Observer):
[UPDATE: Photo removed at the request of the N&O. Click the link above to see the image.]
What would you do?
She called Mars (the candy maker), who quickly sent her coupons and an envelope for her to send the mystery object to Mars labs for testing.
Uh… no. She actually wanted to know what the object was, and didn’t trust Mars to be forthcoming with her results.
After calling a number of state departments and university labs, the News & Observer got involved as part of their Troubleshooter program. Most state labs and departments either didn’t have the resources or wouldn’t do the testing, or referred her to private labs (costing upwards of $1000 dollars for testing).
Finally, the N&O talked to the Agriculture Department’s Food and Drug Protection Division.
The director decided to make an exception – as long as the woman agreed not to sue – and got to work.
What tests would you run? In short order, the director found out what the object was. Was it tooth? Bone? Something else? If you were the director, what would you do to find out what was in the M&M? Find out below the jump.
