Exploring accidents in candy factories: the sour side of manufacturing sweets

Chocolates falling from a boxPhoto bySlashio PhotographyonUnsplash

The recent explosion at the R.M. Palmer factory on March 24th ended in death for seven people and severely injured ten. Additionally three buildings around it were condemned and “Videos recorded at the site showed flames and thick clouds of black smoke engulfing the building and billowing hundreds of feet into the air.”

The only silver lining was the story of one survivor, Patricia Borges, who claims that after the explosion, falling into a vat of chocolate saved her life. Per CBS News, when her arm caught fire, the floor gave way beneath her and she fell into a vat of chocolate, dousing the flames. It was still a horrific experience, as she broke her collarbone and both heels and spent “the next nine hours screaming for help and waiting for rescue as firefighters battled the inferno and choppers thumped overhead.”

This tragic accident at a chocolate factory may seem like a rare event, but in June 2022, less than a year ago, and less than fifty miles away in Elizabethtown, PA, two men fell into a vat of chocolate at a Mars Wrigley factory. Per the NY Post, “The pair fell waist-deep into a tank at the candy giant’s facility…The chocolate-coated victims weren’t hurt, but couldn’t get out of the tank on their own.” This story was circulated recently as in February 2023, Mars Wrigley settled a lawsuit.

tempered chocolatePhoto byKaffee MeisteronUnsplash

Outside the United States, in Germany in 2018, Benjamin Butterworth of inews.co.uk reported a story about a technical defect that caused a flood of chocolate in the city street. “According to German newspaper Soester Anzeiger, the road outside was covered in chocolate after the mixture leaked from within factory walls.” A machine defect at the DreiMeister chocolate factory in Westoennen caused the storage tank to spill.

When the chocolate hit the pavement it hardened. “About 25 firefighters were required to pry the coating from the street’s tarmac. Shovels, hot water and torches were all needed over several hours to remove remaining sweet bits from cracks and holes.”

water flooded roadwayPhoto byJuan Manuel SanchezonUnsplash

Around the same time in Poland, a truck spilled tonnes of liquid chocolate across a Polish motorway (inews.co.uk) Journalist Elena Cresci reported that a tanker truck carrying 12 tons of chocolate crashed, spilling chocolate onto the road. As with the accident in Germany, the chocolate quickly hardened and removing it was a huge effort. The cleanup crew, ”After receiving advice from the chocolate manufacturers…used hot water to try and clean up the mess. In the end, the cleanup took several hours, with the road blocked until 5pm. On the plus side, despite having to deal with a huge mass of solidifying chocolate, the cleanup crew were in good spirits.” The driver was taken to the hospital and treated for a broken arm.

Candy manufacturersPhoto byHayffield LonUnsplash

Finally in 2016, a small chemical explosion at the Willy Wonka Chocolate Factory in Itasca, IL, caused injury to “more than a dozen candy factory workers…The company, which is owned by Nestle, makes candies like Laffy Taffies and Bottle Caps. Fire officials say the chemical spill involved a five-gallon container of a product used in a humidifying system.”