Byrne, Janes (5 September 2010). "Barry Callebaut optimises dairy-free milk chocolate alternative". Confectionery News. Archived from the original on 3 September 2020. Mars Chocolate Australia M&M's: Bare All". Adeevee.com. January 11, 2010. Archived from the original on May 11, 2016 . Retrieved September 6, 2019. Major milk chocolate producers include Ferrero, Hershey, Mondelez, Mars and Nestlé; collectively these supply over half of the world's chocolate. Four-fifths of all milk chocolate is sold in the United States and Europe, and increasing amounts are consumed in both China and Latin America. A traditional milk chocolate M&M weighs about 0.91 grams / 0.032 ounces [4] and has about 4.7 calories (kcal) of food energy (1.7 kcal from fat). [5] Despite common belief, each colored M&M does not have a different flavor and all possess the same chocolate taste. [6] History 1940–70s: Beginnings Milk Chocolate M&M's were introduced in 1941. If the mixture is hot, wait until it's just slightly warm before adding the beaten egg and vanilla.

Morton, Marcia; Morton, Freceric (1986). Chocolate, an Illustrated History. Oxford: Crown. ISBN 978-0-51755-765-5. In Dresden in the German Confederation, Jordan & Timaeus were developing a mechanism to produce hard chocolate using steam power. On 23 May 1839, they advertised a solid chocolate containing fresh milk, calling it "steam chocolate" ( dampfchocolade). [6] However, that version of milk chocolate did not become successful and when major companies like Fry's of Bristol and Lindt of Zürich started producing eating chocolate in the 1840s, they only made plain chocolate. [7] [8] Daniel Peter, Swiss chocolatier who combined chocolate and milk

The following ten other M&M's flavors tested negative for wheat or gluten, including several that warned that they "may contain wheat" (we recommend avoiding ones with this warning): 

Celiac.com 09/16/2020 (Updated 03/15/2021) - M&M's candies do not advertise or label their products as gluten-free. However, with a few exceptions, their candies are gluten-free and safe for people with celiac disease. This list is for the USA, and note that in Australia and other countries they may contain wheat starch and not be gluten-free. Martin, Kathy (2016). Famous Brand Names and Their Origins. Barnsley: Pen & Sword History. ISBN 978-1-78159-015-7. Although they were marketed and then withdrawn in the 1960s, almond-centred M&M's were available again in 1988 in limited release, with appearances only during Christmas and Easter times; they became a standard part of the product line in 1992.

Forrest Mars Sr., son of the Mars Company founder, Frank C. Mars, copied the idea for the candy in the 1930s during the Spanish Civil War when he saw soldiers eating British-made Smarties, 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. [7] 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. [8] The two 'M's represent the names of Forrest E. Mars Sr., the founder of Newark Company, and Bruce Murrie, son of Hershey Chocolate's president William F. R. Murrie, who had a 20 percent share in the product. [9] The arrangement allowed the candies to be made with Hershey chocolate, as Hershey had control of the rationed chocolate at the time. [7]

The Candy Man comes to Carlton". carltonfc.com.au. Carlton Football Club. August 25, 2009. Archived from the original on December 21, 2014 . Retrieved December 21, 2014. Smith, Andrew F. (2007). The Oxford Companion to American Food and Drink. Oxford University Press. p.279. ISBN 978-0-19-530796-2.

In April 2005, M&M's ran the "mPire" promotion to tie in with the Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith film release. M&M's were offered in dark chocolate varieties (regular and Peanut) for the first time after a string of Addams Family M&M's commercials. The Story of M&M's Brand". mms.com. Mars, Incorporated. Archived from the original on April 9, 2008 . Retrieved June 14, 2008. a b "L'inventeur oublié du chocolat au lait"[The forgotten inventor of milk chocolate]. Feuille des Avis Officiels du canton de Vaud (in French). Canton of Vaud. 26 March 2021 . Retrieved 22 May 2022. Ethical issues have been intrinsically linked to chocolate in general since the early days. Many of the early chocolatiers, including Cadbury, Fry's, Rowntree's and Terry's, were founded by Quakers who saw the wellbeing of their workers part of their business ethic. [74] The companies were pioneers in social welfare, providing a safe working environment, high quality housing and other benefits to employees that were ahead of many of the industrial norms. [75] Cadbury, for example, provided paid holidays, insurance and night schools for workers, as well as constructing Bournville in Birmingham, UK. [76] However, the working conditions of many in the wider chocolate supply chain remained poor. Slavery, and later bonded labour, was often employed on the plantations that provided the sugar used to make chocolate. [77] Even after the abolition of slavery, the working conditions in many plantations was still poor, with reports of child labour being frequent and unreported. [78] In 1975, the first in a series of International Cocoa Agreements tried to set what were termed "fair labour conditions" and eliminate child labour. [79]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 3,300 pounds (1,500kg) of chocolate centers could be coated every hour. [16] Custom Printed MY M&M's". mms.com. Mars, Incorporated. Archived from the original on February 11, 2012 . Retrieved February 6, 2012. In 1976, Mars eliminated red-colored M&M's [69] because of health concerns over the dye amaranth ( FD&C Red #2), which was a suspected carcinogen, and replaced them with orange M&M's. This was done despite the fact that M&M's did not contain the dye; the action was purely to satisfy worried consumers. [15] Ten years later, Paul Hethmon, then a student at University of Tennessee, started a joke campaign to reinstate red M&M's that would eventually become a worldwide phenomenon. [70] Red M&M's were reintroduced as a result, and the orange M&M's that had originally replaced them were kept in production. In Europe, red M&M's contain the red dye carmine (E120, cochineal). [71] Wagstaff, Niala. "Watch: M&M's Super Bowl LII commercial with Danny DeVito". The Enquirer. Archived from the original on February 5, 2018 . Retrieved February 5, 2018. The following ten other M&M's flavors tested negative for wheat or gluten, including several that warned that they "may contain wheat" (we recommend avoiding ones with this warning):