Funny sweet stories from the news

Most sweet news is about prices and new flavours. Now and then, though, a story comes along that is too odd to ignore. Every one of these is true, and each has its own page with the details and sources.

Heists

• The great Creme Egg robbery. In February 2023 a man stole a lorry trailer holding nearly 200,000 Cadbury Creme Eggs in Telford. The chase ended on the M42, and he was jailed: see the great Creme Egg robbery
• The twelve tonne KitKat theft. In March 2026 a lorry carrying about 12 tonnes of KitKats, 413,793 bars, disappeared on its way from Italy to Poland: see the twelve tonne KitKat theft
• The Nutella heist. In April 2013 thieves stole about 5 tonnes of Nutella from a parked trailer in Bad Hersfeld, Germany: see the Nutella heist
• The maple syrup heist. In 2011 and 2012 thieves took nearly 3,000 tonnes of maple syrup from a reserve in Quebec, swapping it for water: see the great maple syrup heist

Science, of a sort

• The deep fried Mars bar. After the American chat show host Jay Leno joked about it in 2004, The Lancet asked the University of Dundee to find out whether the deep fried Mars bar was real. Researchers phoned 627 fish and chip shops in Scotland, and 22% of those that answered sold them: see the deep fried Mars bar
• Bacteria on the scoops. In 2010 three Irish school students tested pick and mix stands for a science exhibition, and found most bacteria on the scoops and bins: see the pick and mix hygiene debate

Odd but true

• The last bag of Woolworths pick and mix sold for £14,500 at a charity auction in 2009, a Guinness World Record: see the biggest bag of pick and mix
• Wooden Wonka bars. In the 1971 film Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, the thousands of Wonka bars unwrapped in the hunt for a Golden Ticket were made of wood: see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and real sweet factories
• Porridge bombs. The first British limpet mines, built in 1939, were tested with porridge inside, and used aniseed balls as their timers: see the wartime aniseed ball timer
• Twin Peaks. When Toblerone widened the gaps between its peaks in 2016, Poundland answered in 2017 with its own bigger lookalike bar, Twin Peaks: see the Toblerone gaps
• The M&M's myth. M&M's are said to have flown on the first space shuttle, but the first packs flew in 1982, and came back unopened: see sweets in space

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