Hundreds of thousands of red Skittles scatter across icy US motorway

Hundreds of thousands of red Skittles were strewn along a rural US highway after falling off a pick-up truck in Wisconsin.

Initially, Dodge County Sheriff Dale Schmidt had no idea where or how the fruit-flavoured sweets had come to coat the road.

"On Tuesday night, the Dodge County Sheriff's Office came across unusual items that were left in the road," the sheriff's office posted to Facebook.

"Hundreds of thousands of Skittles were spilled."

"It is unclear who may have spilled the Skittles on the road. The Dodge County Highway Department was asked to clean them off the road."

However, police were later able to confirm that the sweets were rejected for packaging by the manufacturer and were being taken to use as cattle feed.

"The Skittles were confirmed to have fallen off the back of a truck," police updated their Facebook followers.

"The truck was a flatbed pick-up and the Skittles were in a large box. Due to it raining at the time, the box got wet and gave way, allowing the Skittles to spill out on the roadway."

Despite the sticky streets, the spill actually turned out to be useful for Dodge County residents.

County road crews told KTLA-5 that the spilled Skittles gave motorists improved traction on the icy winter roads.