A friend recently told me that her boss, an Orthodox Jew, could not eat M&M’s due to their shells being coated with beetle juice. Restricting bug intake doesn’t seem extraordinary considering Talmudic law (which might be more discerning than federal food regulations but who knows), but what about the accusation that insects are being used to make the candy coating that melts in your mouth, not in your hand? –Michael Chelm, Los Angeles
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You didn’t get the whole story, friend. The rumor is that the coating is made from ground-up lac beetle shells, the same beetles used to make a well-known floor coating. So that’s why M&M’s don’t melt in your hand–they paint ’em with shellac! Very funny, but like most such legends, not true. The folks at M&M/Mars say the coating is a mixture of sugar and corn syrup that is buffed to a high sheen by tumbling the M&M’s together during manufacture. The story about the beetles has been passed around quite a bit, though. It turned up in 1991 in a kids’ book called Kids Can Save the Animals; after a little prodding from M&M/Mars the publisher admitted having goofed. (Apparently some candies similar to M&M’s do use a bug-based confectioner’s glaze.) Although M&M’s aren’t certified as kosher, a company spokesman says, “to the best of our knowledge they would be accepted under kosher dietary laws.” That may not be good enough for an Orthodox Jew, but it’s good enough for me.
Cecil, you’re a hopeless romantic. Sure, it makes sense that if only 360 million people have ever had nine-digit Social Security numbers, it’ll take 639 million more before we run out [August 14]. But when did logic ever have anything to do with the federal government? One major use of Social Security numbers is for taxpayer and employer identification–and what with corporations, trusts, partnerships, not-for-profits, and various other obscure business enterprises, there are a lot more taxpayers and employers than Social Security registrants. So what’s the REAL straight dope? Is D(uplication)-Day right around the corner? –Harry Doakes, Portland, Oregon
Art accompanying story in printed newspaper (not available in this archive): illustration/Slug Signorino.
