M&M makers worried about possible future chocolate shortage

Mars have invested $1b in research to help save chocolate

M and M licking

It sounds like an inventive plot to a modern horror movie, but it’s true; the makers of M&M’s are afraid that we will no longer be able to make chocolate in the future.

You better stockpile your favorite bars, because if a review from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is true, then we could begin to run out in 2050.

Mars, the company that also make Snickers and Twix, have donated $1 billion towards efforts to save the rain forests around the equator where cacao trees grow and thrive.

These are the trees that are used to make chocolate, but a recent review from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) suggested that climate change could be affecting the produce of the tree.

The article says that “by 2050, rising temperatures will push the suitable cacao cultivation areas uphill,” which may not be possible in countries such as Ghana due to protected reserves.

Mars hopes their large investment will see researchers develop a cacoa tree that will be sustainable at higher temperatures. They have teamed up with researchers from the University of California to accomplish this.

Fortunately, there is hope, as UC Berkeley geneticist Jennifer Doudna has developed CRISPR, which is a tool that allows people to alter DNA. Whether that will be enough or not, time will tell.

Nonetheless, we are putting away a few packets of M&Ms for safe keeping.

Source: USA Today
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