The candy curse cometh

As Halloween sneaks around the corner, candy companies are expected to reach $2.5 billion in sales this year. The National Confectioners Association (NCA) has been manufacturing candy since 1884. Today, it represents 290 manufacturing companies in the U.S. which, in turn, are followed by 260 supplying companies for the various candy ingredients.

Over $4 billion is spent by the NCA on the resources needed to make candy including 2.2 billion pounds of sugar, 1.9 billion pounds of cocoa beans and one million pounds of dairy products. The NCA conducted a survey which proved chocolate to be the favorite Halloween candy, followed up by candy corn. The survey results say that a minimum of 75% of Halloween candy purchases will be on chocolate.

This means that Chicago, known as one of the largest candy capitals in the world, is pumping out chocolate from all of its various candy companies including Tootsie Roll, M&M and Mars, the creators of Snickers and Milky Way bars and the Ferrara Pan Company. With issues such as obesity and diabetes in America, the growing sale of candy is a contentious topic for doctors and dentists.

In Connecticut, several dentist offices are taking action to pry away some of the cavity-causing candy from kids’ hands and send it to U.S. Troops overseas through the Halloween Candy Buy Back program. This cleverly encourages moderate candy consumption and shows children how to give back to the community. The Halloween Candy Buy Back program gives incentives to kids such as $1 for every pound of candy donated and raffle prizes.

Information from this article was taken from http://blog.ctnews.com, http://www.candyusa.com, http://www.cyberhaven.com

Leave a Reply