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Texas peanut growers tour Mars Candy facility in TennesseeTexas Directors and staff of the Texas Peanut Producers Board toured the Mars Candy plant Aug. 1 in Cleveland, Tenn., to see the products of their labor manufactured into candy bars. The Mars facility is the largest producer of M&M candies in the United States and uses mostly all West Texas grown peanuts in its popular peanut M&M candy product. The high-oleic peanuts grown in the region have a higher quality and longer shelf life, making them ideal for food products often found in vending machines. TPPB directors on the tour were impressed with the company's strict attention to cleanliness and quality. "The candy facility was exceptionally clean at every stage of production," said Otis Lee Johnson, TPPB chairman and producer from Seminole, Texas. "There are many checkpoints and quality reviews to ensure only the best product for the consumer." The Mars company is also involved in recycling and uses the entire peanut product. The split peanuts are sent to the Mars plant in Waco, Texas to produce Snickers candy bars, while the cracked peanuts are used to make peanut butter for other candy products, such as the Twix candy bar. The oil from peanuts is also collected and sold. The skins and scraps are bagged and used for livestock feed and dog food. "None of the peanuts used to produce their candy products are wasted," Johnson said. "It's just another example of how useful all parts of a peanut really are for food products." The plant runs 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and is located in an old textile mill factory building north of Chattanooga, Tenn. TPPB is an organization that operates on a voluntary $2 per ton check-off from the state's peanut production. Half of the organization's $1 million budget goes toward research projects aimed at making Texas peanut production more efficient and profitable. 9/1/08 Date: 8/28/08 Advertisement
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