Editing M&M's (section)

===1940–70s: Beginnings===

[[File:1941mandms.jpeg|thumb|right|[[Milk Chocolate]] M&M's were introduced in 1941.]]

In the 1930s, [[Forrest Mars Sr.]], son of the Mars Company founder, [[Franklin Clarence Mars]], saw soldiers in the [[Spanish Civil War]] eating British-made [[Smarties]]. These are chocolate pellets with a colored shell of what confectioners call hard panning (essentially hardened sugar syrup) surrounding the outside, preventing the sweets (candies) from melting. Mars received a [[patent]] for his own process on March 3, 1941.<ref name="ForrestMarsSr">{{cite web|url=http://web.mit.edu/invent/iow/mars.html |title=Inventor of the Week: Forrest Mars, Sr. |website=Lemelson-MIT Program |date=March 10, 2005 |access-date=July 18, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050310105331/http://web.mit.edu/invent/iow/mars.html |archive-date=March 10, 2005 }}</ref> 

Production began in 1941 in a factory located at 285 Badger Avenue in [[Clinton Hill, Newark, New Jersey]]. When the company was founded it was M&M Limited.<ref name="virtualnewarknj.com">{{cite web |url=http://www.virtualnewarknj.com/memories/newark/bodianmm.htm |title=Looking Back at Newark Origins of World-Famous M&M Chocolates |website=Old Newark Memories |date=April 12, 1981 |access-date=February 21, 2013 |author1=Bodian, Nat |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071019111110/http://virtualnewarknj.com/memories/newark/bodianmm.htm |archive-date=October 19, 2007 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The two Ms represent the names of Forrest E. Mars Sr. and Bruce Murrie, the son of the [[The Hershey Company|Hershey Chocolate]]'s president, William F. R. Murrie, who had a 20 percent share in the product.<ref name="MurrieArchive">{{cite web |title=William F.R. Murrie, 1873-1950 |url=https://hersheyarchives.org/encyclopedia/murrie-william-f-r-1873-1950/ |website=Hershey Community Archives |publisher=The M.S. Hershey Foundation |access-date=January 22, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190420200840/https://hersheyarchives.org/encyclopedia/murrie-william-f-r-1873-1950/ |archive-date=April 20, 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref> The arrangement allowed the candies to be made with Hershey chocolate, as Hershey had control of the [[ration]]ed chocolate at the time.<ref name="ForrestMarsSr" />

[[Nestlé]] archives show<ref name="mashed/smarties-mms">{{cite web |last1=Crossan |first1=Anna |title=The Unlikely Similarity Between Smarties And M&M's |url=https://www.mashed.com/1281792/unlikely-similarity-between-smarties-m-ms/ |website=Mashed |access-date=1 November 2023 |date=13 May 2023}}</ref> that George Harris of Rowntree and Forrest Mars Sr. agreed, after much negotiation, to share the marketplace rather than compete, with Rowntree making Mars Bars in Canada, Erie and South Africa and with Mars making M&M's in America without competition from Smarties, and Rowntree did not attempt to sue Mars for stealing their concept.<ref name="thevintagenews/mm-smarties">{{cite web |last1=Smee |first1=Taryn |title=Candy Wars: Did M&M's Steal their Concept from Smarties? |url=https://www.thevintagenews.com/2018/08/08/mm-vs-smarties/ |website=The Vintage News |access-date=1 November 2023 |language=en |date=8 August 2018}}</ref>

[[File:M&M-with-mm-ruler.jpg|thumb|left|Orange M&M's chocolate candy in cross-section with [[millimeter]] ruler for scale. Shows layers of [[Sugar panning|hard-panned]] coating.]]
The company's first big customer was the [[United States Army|U.S. Army]], which saw the invention as a way to allow soldiers to carry chocolate in tropical climates without it melting. During [[World War II]], the candies were exclusively sold to the military.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.virtualnewarknj.com/memories/newark/bodianmm.htm |title=Looking Back at Newark Origins of World-Famous M&M Chocolates – virtualnewarknj.com – Retrieved August 28, 2008 |website=Virtual.com |date=April 12, 1981 |access-date=January 15, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716153908/http://www.virtualnewarknj.com/memories/newark/bodianmm.htm |archive-date=July 16, 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The resulting demand caused an increase in production and the company moved its factory to bigger quarters at 200 North 12th Street in [[Newark, New Jersey]]. In 1958, it moved to a bigger factory at [[Hackettstown, New Jersey|Hackettstown]]. A second factory was opened in [[Cleveland, Tennessee]], in 1978.<ref>{{cite news|last=Mincey|first=Allen|date=March 4, 2016|title=Mars Chocolate North America celebrates 'Big 7-5' of M&M's|url=http://clevelandbanner.com/stories/mars-chocolate-north-americacelebrates-big-7-5-of-mms,29186|work=[[Cleveland Daily Banner]]|location=Cleveland, Tennessee|access-date=June 30, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180630105317/http://clevelandbanner.com/stories/mars-chocolate-north-americacelebrates-big-7-5-of-mms,29186|archive-date=June 30, 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> Today, about half of the production of M&M's occurs at the New Jersey factory, and half at the Tennessee factory.<ref>{{cite news|last=Warnke|first=Kyle|date=August 12, 2016|title=M&M's and Twix are Made in Tennessee|url=http://www.wvlt.tv/content/news/MMs-and-Twix-are-Made-in-Tennessee--389973792.html|publisher=[[WVLT-TV]]|location=Knoxville, Tennessee|access-date=June 29, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180630105510/http://www.wvlt.tv/content/news/MMs-and-Twix-are-Made-in-Tennessee--389973792.html|archive-date=June 30, 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>
[[File:Mandmpenaut.jpg|thumb|[[Peanut]] M&M's were introduced in 1954.]]In 1949, the brand introduced the tagline "The milk chocolate that melts in your mouth, not in your hand."<ref name="Smith">{{Cite book |last=Smith |first=Andrew F. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o7gxBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA536 |title=Food and Drink in American History: A "Full Course" Encyclopedia: A "Full Course" Encyclopedia |publisher=ABC-CLIO |year=2013 |isbn=978-1-6106-9233-5 |volume=3 |pages=536}}</ref> In 1950, a black "M" was imprinted on the candies giving them a unique trademark. It was changed to white in 1954.<ref name="virtualnewarknj.com" /> In the early 1950s, the Midwest Research Institute (now [[MRIGlobal]]) in [[Kansas City, Missouri]], worked on behalf of M&M's to perfect a process whereby {{convert|3300|lb}} of chocolate centers could be coated every hour.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mriresearch.org/AboutMRI/Breakthroughs.asp |title=MRI Breakthroughs |website=Mriresearch.org |date=September 11, 2001 |access-date=January 15, 2010 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080702054645/http://www.mriresearch.org/AboutMRI/Breakthroughs.asp |archive-date = July 2, 2008}}</ref> Peanut M&M's were introduced in 1954 but first appeared<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7-WcKK01H1cC&q=peanut+m&pg=PR54|title=Fast Food and Junk Food: An Encyclopedia of What We Love to Eat|last=Smith|first=Andrew F.|date=2012|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=9780313393938|language=en}}</ref> only in the color tan. In 1960, M&M's added the yellow, red, and green colors.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.upi.com/MMS-show-their-true-colors/80061079017251/ |title=M&M's show their true colors|date=March 11, 2004 |access-date=April 8, 2019}}</ref>

In 1976, the color orange was added to the mix to replace red, which was discontinued in response to the "red dye scare" over [[Amaranth (dye)|Red Dyes #2]] and [[Carmine|#4]] having been evaluated as [[Carcinogen|carcinogenic]]. Although M&M's were made with the less controversial [[Allura Red AC|Red Dye #40]], the public was wary of any food being dyed red. Red M&M's were reintroduced in 1987.<ref name="Smith" /><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.livescience.com/33017-why-were-red-mms-discontinued-for-a-decade.html|title=Why Were Red M&M's Discontinued for a Decade? LiveScience.|first=Remy|last=Melina|website=[[Live Science]] |date=February 10, 2011|access-date=May 22, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180523100159/https://www.livescience.com/33017-why-were-red-mms-discontinued-for-a-decade.html|archive-date=May 23, 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>