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Mars MILITARY

MILITARY AUDIT UPDATED 2026-06-16
Military Score 0.00 /10 E Mars - BDS-1000 184
Military 0.00

Evidence-only forensic audit. Scoring happens downstream - see the main dossier for the composite assessment.

Military Audit: Mars, Incorporated

Audit Phase: Military Subject Entity: Mars, Incorporated (privately held; headquartered McLean, Virginia, USA) Principal Israeli Subsidiary: Mars Wrigley Israel Ltd (Ra’anana, Central District, Israel) Audit Date: June 2026 Scope: Forensic inventory of any military or defence nexus between Mars, Incorporated and the Israeli military, security, or defence sector - direct defence contracting, dual-use supply, heavy machinery, supply-chain integration with Israeli defence primes, logistical sustainment, munitions/weapons platforms, export-licensing history, and documented civil-society scrutiny. Evidence only; no scoring or interpretation. Evidence Base: Israeli and international defence-export material (SIBAT, DSEI/Eurosatory reporting), NGO corporate-accountability databases (Who Profits, AFSC Investigate), the UN OHCHR settlements database, corporate disclosures and press releases, business-registry data, and trade/consumer-boycott reporting. All claims carry an inline reference marker; source URLs appear only in the End Notes.

Direct Defence Contracting & Procurement

No public evidence identified of any contract, tender award, framework agreement, or memorandum of understanding between Mars, Incorporated and the Israeli Ministry of Defense, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), the Israel Prison Service, the Israel Border Police, or any other Israeli state security or intelligence body.

Mars is a privately held consumer-goods conglomerate whose principal divisions - Mars Wrigley (confectionery and gum), Mars Petcare (pet nutrition and veterinary services), Mars Food, and Mars Edge - operate within civilian consumer, food, and animal-care markets.1 Its published corporate materials describe no defence-contracting capability, security-sector revenue, or military procurement relationship in any jurisdiction.1

No public evidence identified of Mars appearing in the listings of Israel’s defence-export and defence-cooperation directorate (SIBAT) or any Israeli Ministry of Defense procurement registry. Open-source coverage of SIBAT and of Israel’s record defence-export activity for 2025 records the country’s defence primes and the SIBAT-organised national pavilion, and does not record any Mars or Mars Wrigley entity in any supplier, exhibitor, or cooperation capacity.23

No public evidence identified of Mars as an exhibitor, sponsor, or participant at international defence exhibitions. Reporting on Israeli participation at DSEI (London) and Eurosatory (Paris), including the 2025–2026 access disputes, does not record Mars, Incorporated in any capacity.34

The only documented relationship between any Mars business and an armed force is with the United States Army: BluePearl, part of Mars Veterinary Health, established the “Vet-TROMA” (Veterinary Trauma Readiness and Operational Medicine Agility) programme with the U.S. Army Office of the Surgeon General and the U.S. Army Veterinary Corps to train Army veterinarians in emergency care of Military Working Dogs.5 This is a U.S.-based veterinary-training relationship; the announcement contains no reference to Israel or the IDF, and no analogous Israeli engagement was identified.5

Dual-Use Products & Tactical Variants

No public evidence identified of Mars manufacturing, marketing, or supplying any ruggedised, tactical, mil-spec, or defence-grade product line to any end-user, including Israeli military or security end-users.

Mars’s product portfolio - confectionery, chewing gum, pet food, food ingredients, and veterinary pharmaceutical and clinical services - is documented entirely under civilian specifications.16 No Mars product variant is recorded as carrying a dual-use designation under the Wassenaar Arrangement control schedules adopted by Israel, or under the EU Dual-Use Regulation or the US Commerce Control List, in any reviewed source.7

No application for an end-user certificate, dual-use export licence, or technology-transfer authorisation relating to Mars products and Israeli defence or security end-users was identified in any jurisdiction reviewed.7

Historical chocolate-ration note (directionality). Mars and the former Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company produced confectionery and gum as components of military field rations for the United States armed forces during the Second World War (M&M’s, Juicy Fruit, Doublemint).8 This is a historical U.S. wartime supply fact attributable to the companies’ general product lines; no reviewed source attributes any equivalent ration, tactical, or military-specification product to Mars supplied to Israeli forces.8

Heavy Machinery, Construction & Infrastructure

No public evidence identified. Mars is not a manufacturer or supplier of heavy machinery, construction equipment, excavation vehicles, demolition equipment, or industrial infrastructure materials; its activities are confined to confectionery, pet food, food products, and veterinary services.9 No NGO field investigation, UN documentation, satellite-imagery analysis, or photographic record reviewed places any Mars-branded or Mars-owned equipment in settlement construction, separation-barrier works, checkpoint construction, or military-installation development in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, the Golan Heights, or Gaza.

The UN OHCHR database of business enterprises involved in activities relating to Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory - updated in September 2025 to list 158 enterprises from 11 countries - focuses on construction materials, demolition, surveillance, and natural-resource activities facilitating settlements. Mars, Incorporated is not named in the OHCHR database or in the public summaries of its 2025 update reviewed.10

No Mars contract - direct or indirect - for the construction, maintenance, servicing, or expansion of IDF bases, detention facilities, military training installations, or settlement infrastructure was identified in any reviewed source.

Supply Chain Integration with Defence Primes

No public evidence identified of Mars supplying components, sub-systems, raw materials, specialist manufacturing services, or any other input to Elbit Systems, Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, Israel Military Industries (IMI), or any other Israeli defence prime contractor. A review of the component categories associated with these primes - guidance electronics, electro-optical systems, composite structures, communications hardware, propulsion and munitions elements - yields no recorded Mars supply relationship in any category.11

No joint development programme, co-production agreement, technology-transfer arrangement, or licensed-manufacturing agreement between Mars and any Israeli defence firm was identified.11

Foodtech R&D relationship (non-defence). Mars’s documented research collaboration in Israel is the foodtech R&D partnership announced on 15 May 2019 with the venture-capital firm Jerusalem Venture Partners (JVP), through which Mars Edge and the Mars Advanced Research Institute invest in food, agriculture, and nutrition start-ups and collaborate with Israeli academic institutions including the Hebrew University, the Weizmann Institute, the Technion, and Tel Hai College.1213 The announcements describe an entirely civilian foodtech and personalised-nutrition agenda; no reviewed source records a military, defence, or dual-use element to this partnership.1213

Logistical Sustainment & Base Services

No public evidence identified of any Mars contract to provide catering, transport, fuel supply, waste management, facilities management, telecommunications, or any other logistical or sustainment service to IDF bases, military training facilities, detention centres, or security installations in any area, including the West Bank, Golan Heights, East Jerusalem, or the Negev.

Mars operates civilian food, confectionery, and pet-care manufacturing and distribution through commercial retail and food-service channels.19 No component of this network was documented in any reviewed source as serving Israeli defence logistics, military cargo movements, or arms shipments. Mars is not a logistics, freight, or base-services contractor, and no shipping, freight-forwarding, or port-handling contract held by Mars that services Israeli military or security logistics was identified.1

Munitions, Weapons Systems & Strategic Platforms

No public evidence identified. Mars has no documented role - as prime contractor, licensed manufacturer, sub-system integrator, or component supplier - in the production of small arms, artillery, armoured vehicles, unmanned aerial systems, naval vessels, or any other lethal platform for any end-user, including Israeli defence and security end-users.911

No public evidence identified of Mars supplying ammunition, explosive ordnance, propellants, warhead components, or munitions-precursor materials to any end-user in any jurisdiction. Its industrial inputs - cocoa, sugar, flavourings, cereals, and veterinary pharmaceutical compounds - have no documented role in munitions supply chains.9

No public evidence identified of any Mars role in the manufacture, integration, maintenance, or component supply of Israeli strategic defence platforms - including Iron Dome, David’s Sling, the Arrow missile-defence system, the F-35I “Adir” aircraft, Merkava main battle tanks, or any other strategic system. No Mars-attributable guidance electronics, fire-control systems, radar components, propulsion units, or warhead casings appear in any defence-industry documentation reviewed.11

Export Licensing, Regulatory & Legal History

No public evidence identified of any government decision in any jurisdiction - including the United States, the United Kingdom, or European Union member states - to grant, deny, suspend, or revoke an export licence for Mars products to Israeli military or security end-users. Mars does not appear as a named applicant or licence-holder in publicly reported strategic-export-control or arms-licensing data concerning defence or dual-use exports to Israel.7

No investigation, enforcement citation, or regulatory action against Mars relating to arms-embargo compliance, export-control obligations, or sanctions compliance in the context of defence trade with Israel or any other jurisdiction was identified in any reviewed enforcement record.7

No court proceedings, judicial review, or legal challenge - brought against Mars or against a government body concerning a Mars export application - relating to a defence or military supply relationship with Israel was identified in available legal reporting or civil-society documentation. Mars is privately held and files no SEC disclosures that would create a public defence-sector or export-control record.1

Civil Society Scrutiny & Documented Investigations

NGO & Academic Investigations

No active corporate profile categorising Mars, Incorporated as a defence, military, or security-sector company was identified in the principal corporate-accountability databases. A direct request for an AFSC Investigate company page for Mars returned “not found,” and Mars is not recorded as a named entity in the UN OHCHR settlements database.51014 The Who Profits corporate database, which documents companies profiting from the occupation and from the Israeli security/defence sector, does not return a Mars, Incorporated entity in the reviewed material; the database’s named entries surfaced in searching relate to unrelated companies.15 Where NGO, activist, and trade sources discuss Mars, the evidentiary focus is on its commercial and economic ties to Israel - not on weapons, ordnance, defence contracting, or security services.16

Boycott, Divestment & Consumer-Pressure Campaigns

Mars has been the subject of consumer-boycott calls, with publicly articulated grounds resting on the company’s economic ties to Israel: its commercial presence (the Mars Wrigley Israel subsidiary in Ra’anana), its foodtech investment via JVP, and a distribution relationship with the Israeli food group Strauss.1617 Reporting frames Mars in BDS materials as a “secondary” or indirect target on economic grounds.16 None of the boycott materials reviewed identifies Mars as an arms exporter, defence contractor, weapons-component supplier, or military logistics provider; the rationale is commercial and reputational, not military.1617

Activist claims that Mars sources cocoa from settlements were disputed by Mars in a 2023 statement, in which the company stated it has no factories in illegal settlements.16 This dispute concerns alleged civilian agricultural sourcing and economic ties, not any defence or military supply relationship; it is recorded here only to confirm that no military nexus is alleged.16

Corporate Policy Response

Mars’s published ESG framework (“The Mars Compass”) and “Principles in Action” governance materials address environmental sustainability and supply-chain labour standards and contain no Israel-specific provisions on military supply chains, defence end-use monitoring, or procurement for security purposes.1 No specific Mars policy change, contract termination, or end-use-monitoring commitment in response to civil-society pressure regarding a defence supply relationship with Israel was identified, consistent with the absence of any such relationship in the record.1

End Notes

Footnotes

  1. https://www.mars.com/about ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8

  2. https://breakingdefense.com/2026/06/israels-defense-exports-reach-record-19-billion-in-2025/ ↩

  3. https://breakingdefense.com/2025/09/israeli-firms-say-they-will-participate-in-dsei-despite-ban-on-officials/ ↩ ↩2

  4. https://en.globes.co.il/en/article-france-again-bans-israel-from-eurosatory-defense-exhibition-1001544650 ↩

  5. https://www.mars.com/news-and-stories/press-releases-statements/bluepearltm-announces-first-of-its-kind-veterinary ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Inc. ↩

  7. https://www.trade.gov/country-commercial-guides/israel-us-export-controls ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  8. https://in-confectionery.com/mars-partners-operation-gratitude-deliver-two-millionth-care-package-us-troops/ ↩ ↩2

  9. https://www.britannica.com/money/Mars-Inc ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  10. https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2025/09/un-human-rights-office-updates-database-businesses-involved-israeli ↩ ↩2

  11. https://www.trade.gov/country-commercial-guides/israel-aerospace-and-defense ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  12. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/mars-incorporated-partners-with-jerusalem-venture-partners-jvp-to-foster-foodtech-solutions-in-israel-300850743.html ↩ ↩2

  13. https://www.timesofisrael.com/us-maker-of-twix-mms-to-scout-for-foodtech-in-israel-with-jvp/ ↩ ↩2

  14. https://investigate.afsc.org/ ↩

  15. https://www.whoprofits.org/ ↩

  16. https://israelproducts.cloud/is-mars-chocolate-an-israel-product/ ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  17. https://masjidalaqsa.com/boycott/mars-inc-israel-bds ↩ ↩2