Candy giant funds efforts crack code on perfect peanut

Peanuts are not just peanuts to a candy brand that’s made millions combining the at-risk legume with the likes of gooey caramel and chocolate.

So says Mars, which announced Thursday that it is doubling down on the pursuit of perfect peanut, investing $5 million in pioneering agri-science because of what it says are “devastating crop losses that currently prevent up to 30% of peanuts from making it from pod to plate.” That’s on top of $10 million the company says it has invested in peanut research.

Only one in 100 peanuts is good enough to become part of a Peanut M&M, Mars said in a news release.

Scientists funded by Mars, which says it’s among the world’s top five peanut buyers, will be mapping the perfect peanut genome for “genetic precision.”

“The cultivated peanut was a once-in-a-millennium accident of nature, but we can’t afford to wait for chance to strike twice. Creating more resilient peanuts requires transformative science, discipline and partnership,” Soraya Bertioli, a senior research scientist at the University of Georgia, which is involved in the effort, said in the release.