Candy's Guilty Pleasures To Be Revealed
Surrounded by temptation in a chocolate research lab, most people couldn't care less about counting calories. But at the Mars Candy factory, they want you to care, CBS News medical correspondent Dr. Jon LaPook reports.
"You see the calories, the total fat, the saturated fat, the sugars, and sodium content of the product," said Ralph Jerome, vice president of Mars.
Tomorrow, Mars Inc. will announce that M&Ms, Skittles, and, by the end of 2010, the rest of their candy will have new packaging that prominently displays all the guilty pleasure inside - in bold print.
"I think it's a great first step for food manufacturers," said Carol Byrd-Bredbenner, a nutrition professor at Rutgers University. "And it's more than a first step, in that, hopefully, it's going to be a trend that other food manufacturers will follow."
Nutrition labels have been required on all food for many years. But Mars says even chocoholics want them to be easier to read.
With obesity rates soaring, there's been a movement to help consumers know exactly what they're putting in their mouths.
In 2007, New York City required chain restaurants to display calorie information on menu boards. Last month, California followed suit. And Taco Bell, KFC and Pizza Hut say they'll also do it.
It's not about stopping people from eating what they want, it's about giving them enough clear information to make healthy choices. But does it mean people will start eating less chocolate now?
"I don't think so. We've been nutritionally labeling for a long time so I don't think people will be very surprised at what's inside," Jerome said.
So, with all this transparency at Mars, will they now reveal one of the great secrets of the 20th Century?
"Why do M&Ms melt in your mouth and not in your hands?" LaPook asked Jerome.
"That's proprietary," he said with a smile.
