Mars said yesterday it was "shocked" that Indonesia had confiscated and destroyed thousands of cartons of its sweets because of melamine contamination fears even though tests had shown they were safe to eat.

Indonesia's Food and Medicine Supervision Agency, BPOM, confirmed 2,000 cartons of Snickers and M&Ms had been destroyed but refused to explain why or comment on the case, which Mars said had cost it half the year's predicted revenue.