Mars, Inc., including its five business groups – chocolate, pet care, Wrigley, food and drinks – has partnered with eco-friendly company TerraCycle to reduce its waste.

After closing five Ethel’s Chocolate Lounge locations last summer, Mars Retail Group will close five more in the Chicago area by the end of this month.

As of Feb. 16, 2009, Erika Kuehner joined Spangler Candy’s marketing team as brand manager. Her responsibilities include managing the Circus Peanuts and Saf-T-Pops brands, while also working in the areas of marketing research, strategy and the company’s giveaway distribution channel.

Despite the struggling economy, DeMet’s Candy Co. has made plans to open a new, state-of-the-art production facility in Big Flats, N.Y. The 100,000-sq.-ft. facility will house all candy making operations

New Hope, Minn.-based Route 29 Caramels and Sweets has closed its production and warehouse facilities in Perham, reports Louis Hoglund in the Perham Enterprise Bulletin. Citing Mark Kalan, the article

Colorado Springs, Colo.-based Impact Confections has announced the appointment of Jeff Rome as the company’s new president and ceo. Rome attained a great deal of knowledge about the confectionery industry

After seven years of working with Barry Callebaut, ceo Patrick De Maeseneire has decided to leave the company to accept the position of ceo of Adecco SA, a global leader

By Bernard Pacyniak Editor-in-Chief Candy Industry pacyniakb@bnpmedia.comgetting fresh: Getting creativeOccasionally, all of us come across either concepts or products that make us nod our heads and say, “Yeah, that’s a

Barry Callebaut Brasil S/A, a subsidiary of Barry Callebaut, and Bunge Alimentos, a subsidiary of Bunge Limited, have signed a distribution agreement making Bunge the exclusive distributor of Barry Callebaut’s artisanal chocolate products in the food service market in Brazil.

Last month, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) notified Cargill that it has no objection to the conclusion of an independent expert panel that sucromalt is generally recognized as safe (GRAS) for use in food.