About 17 tons of M&M’s scattered across a highway near Knoxville, Tennessee, after a truck driver hit a roadside barrier, tipping his rig onto its side.
The accident occurred on Friday morning as the driver was transporting the load of Mars Wrigley chocolate candies from Cleveland, Tennessee, according to CNN. Police said the driver was on an Interstate 40 exit ramp when he swerved to avoid hitting something in the road. His truck slammed into a highway barrier and ended up in a ditch tipped over on its side.
Police who responded to the accident extracted the driver and took him to a nearby hospital for minor injuries. The truck’s payload of 35,000 pounds of M&M’s was removed and trashed. The candies were deemed unsalvageable after the crash because of the candy company’s safety standards, Mars Wrigley spokeswoman Caitlin Kemper said.
“Due to our strict quality and food safety protocols, none of the product has been salvaged,” she said.
And for the record, the tractor-trailer was carrying M&Ms… pic.twitter.com/wPIJnhReaf
— Mark Nagi (@MarkNagiTDOT) December 13, 2019
The incident happened at about 5:30 a.m. Officials finished clearing the road by about 7 p.m.
