Are M&Ms sloppier then they used to be?

Cafe Society
1

I have childhood memories of opening up a bag of M&Ms to find a handful of perfect ellipses, each with a neatly printed M on top.

Right now I have in front of me a handful of approximately ellipse shaped objects. Some with no printing, some with smudged or partial Ms. A few with neat Ms.

In addition, there is:
1 broken piece (snapped off)
1 piece that looks like a broken half, but the candy wrapping around at least part of all sides says that it didn’t break in transit.
1 piece shaped vaguely like an orange slice. Also fully encased in it’s shell, with a partial M on it.

Even the complete candy pieces aren’t the perfect shapes I remember. They are lumpy, uneven shapes.

Any ideas what the change is? Or is it my memory going?

2

I remember this happening all the time, especially the partial Ms. I dont think its anything new. Perhaps the adult in you is better at noticing details or caring about candy quality.

3

Maybe you have a bag of peanut m&ms.

4

Oblate spheroids I think.

I don’ know about misshapen ones, but I think I’ve always found some that were cut in half. I assume from some kind of gate closing on them.

5

<snert> Always possible.

6

Just chiming in to say that I’ve always noticed faded/non printed m’s and partial pieces in my m&m bags, going back 20 years. Let me also mention that the OP’s name is amusing given the context of the question.

7

Eponysterical!

8

Just because this is the Dope, I double checked. Nope, no peanuts.

9

I had a similar problem with a bag of Necco candy hearts for Valentine’s Day this year. Half of the hearts had illegible words or no words at all printed on them. I should have complained to the company, similar to how I once complained to Brach’s that a bag of THEIR hearts didn’t have enough green ones. I got a couple of coupons for free Brach’s candy out of it.

10

Quality control is shot to heck. I just checked a pack and half of them were W’s.

11

Note to self, reading the dope while eating Doritos is not recommended.
(cough, cough) and ouch!

12

Possibly you live in a warmer locale than you did when you were a child? (Or possibly the manufacture of M&Ms was off-shored to someplace warmer?)

13

Thank you, thank you, thank you… for making my day!

14

Yep, one of those moments that make you wish there was a “rimshot” smilie/sound effect thingy…

15

I have noticed this too. Mars used to be FANATICAL about quality, but I think as their business has grown over the years, the quality has slipped. Mostly the candies are still just as tasty, so I don’t mind the occasional hiccup in the form. I have noticed that the peanut variety seems to be using smaller and lower quality peanuts, sometimes the peanut has an off-flavor.

16

Apparently they don’t respond to natural selection

17

That’s the memorial edition for the former president. You must have bought old stock.

18

http://instantrimshot.com/ :cool:

19

And worst of all, they DO melt in your hand.

20

This is what I thought the OP would be about. I’ve been having that problem lately, too.