USA Today: Much of USA's Valentine's candy came from Mexico

[marmar]

Much of USA's Valentine's candy came from Mexico
By Chris Hawley, USA TODAY


TOLUCA, Mexico — Nothing says Valentine's Day in America like the chocolates, candy hearts or red jelly beans you'll be giving your sweetheart this year. (Right?)

Yet these days, the odds are pretty good that the candy comes from Mexico.

From jellied hearts to chocolates, Mexico's candy exports to the United States have more than doubled since 2002 as cheaper labor and sugar draw U.S. candymakers south of the border.

The latest arrival is Hershey, which is building a 1,500-employee factory in the northern Mexican city of Monterrey to replace plants it closed in the USA and Canada. It's following the lead of companies ranging from Brach's Confections, famous for its caramels, to Ferrara Pan Candy, the maker of Red Hots and Jawbusters.

Confectioners say they're trying to survive in a difficult business climate, but U.S. unions bemoan the loss of candymaking jobs. "All these companies want to make it cheap overseas somewhere, then bring it back and sell it to our people who don't have any jobs to buy it," said Dennis Bomberger, business manager of Chocolate Workers Local 464 in Hershey, Pa. .........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/food/2009-02-12-mexicosweets_N.htm

[BlooInBloo]

1. spitpspitspit!!!! I'm a MURICAN!!! I don't eat no stinkin furriner candy!!!!

:rofl:

Nativists are funny.

[marmar]

3. To whom are you referring?

:shrug:

[OhioChick]

Don't even waste your time going there..... n/t

[marmar]

16. I figured as much.....It seems to be a case of cryptic hit-and-run posting anyway.

n/t

[ChromeFoundry]

18. Ironic how his avatar is...

"Union-Yes"

yet, jumps at every chance to denigrate everything Unions stand for.

[burythehatchet]

2. bet you didn't know that DU's fundraising hearts were pixellated in Mexico

[Bolo Boffin]

4. That's OK, once they go through the NSA's Internet room, all furren pixels are replaced

with honest, hard working illegal immigrant pixels.

[Idealism]

5. At half the cost, don't forget!

[TahitiNut]

14. Along with Longfellow Deeds, Miss Faulkner?

:dunce:

[ogneopasno]

6. I stopped buying Hershey's the day they announced the move to Mexico.

[Mojorabbit]

9. Same here. nt

[Captain Hilts]

12. I'll do the same. nt

[Canuckistanian]

7. You couldn't pay me to eat Hershey's products now

They threw 400 people out of work in my area, yet continue to sell their cheap, (now) Mexican-made candy in our stores.

I bought my last Hershey product during a tour of the Smiths Falls plant last summer.

[Captain Hilts]

8. Is it practical to produce chocolate in such a hot climate???

[EFerrari]

10. Where do you think chocolate came from?

:)

[Captain Hilts]

11. As a bean, it's fine. As a bar, it's not. nt

[EFerrari]

15. Hershey, PA has more extreme weather than Guadalajara.

But, whatever.

[Captain Hilts]

17. It's not the extemities, it's the heat. nt

[EFerrari]

19. The last time I was in Guadalajara, they had air conditioning and everything. n/t

[OhioChick]

13. I don't like candy or chocolate, anyway...

A K&R for family in PA that lost their jobs. They should rename the town.

[Sebastian Doyle]

20. The Coca Cola I drink is made in Mexico.

And it tastes better than any you can get in the US (though that "Kosher" stuff available in the Jewish neighborhoods around Passover season probably comes close. Glass bottles still beat plastic though)

Dunno if that's the case with the candy though.