Pink Sauce is a pink
dipping sauce created by
TikTok user Veronica Shaw, better known by her
screen name, Chef Pii. Food safety and labeling concerns caused the
Food and Drug Administration to stop the production and online sale of Pink Sauce. A recipe change and partnership with
Dave's Gourmet brought it to store shelves in January 2023.
History
Chef Pii revealed the Pink Sauce in a TikTok video on June 11, 2022, and subsequently began fulfilling orders for the sauce.
[3][2] The sauce went viral on TikTok in the summer of 2022, with the hashtag #pinksauce gaining over 80 million views.
[4] Customers noticed inconsistencies in the ingredient list, with many raising concerns that the sauce may cause
botulism. TikTok users also pointed out that the sauce was not approved by the
Food and Drug Administration.
[5]
The product was revised for safety purposes and went back on sale on July 1, 2022.
[6] It sold out sometime around August 3, 2022.
[7] Chef Pii planned to
mass-produce the sauce in the fall of 2022.
[8] The ingredients include water, sunflower seed oil, raw honey, distilled vinegar, garlic, dragon fruit, pink Himalayan sea salt, dried spices, lemon juice, milk and citric acid.
[9]
On January 11, 2023, following a reformulation of the recipe and packaging redesign to adhere to Food and Drug Administration regulations,
[10] Pink Sauce was made available in 4,000
Walmart locations across the United States.
[11][12][13]
Controversy
The sauce garnered controversy due to
food safety and labeling concerns. Customers noted that the sauce's color varied between batches,
[14][15][16] the product was poorly packaged,
[17] and that the sauce contained milk which, when packaged in a bag, could be infected by
botulism.[18] There were also discrepancies between the amount of sauce in the bottle and the amount specified on the label,
[1] and allegations that the sauce contained ingredients which were not included on the label (such as
mayonnaise).
[17]
Some consumers experienced food poisoning and were hospitalized.
[19] Others reported that the product smelled and appeared rotten.
[20] One TikTok user
faked their death after consuming Pink Sauce as a "social experiment to see how quickly other people could spread misinformation".
[21]
On August 21, 2022, YouTuber
MatPat made a video about the Pink Sauce on the "Food Theorists" YouTube channel, claiming the ingredients list was unrealistic and that the portions listed on the label were inaccurate. He recommended not consuming the sauce due to potential health risks.
A Pepto-colored condiment has completely flooded TikTok, starting a firestorm of social media discourse around it and its potential dangers.
On June 11, Chef Pii, a Miami-based private chef and social media influencer posted a short TikTok of herself dipping a chicken tender into a bowl of bright pink sauce before taking a bite. That one video garnered over 755,000 views but only just began the journey of a product she invented called "pink sauce."
Chef Pii's TikToks have garnered millions of views, with her
most-viewed video currently at 6.7 million. Any video involving the sauce on her account, which she says contains sunflower seed oil, honey, chili, garlic and dragon fruit (what makes it pink) have attracted tens of thousands of views, and there are at least 100 of them so far.
(Out of concern for her privacy, Chef Pii asked to be referred to by her TikTok username.)
All this virality has not come without a litany of criticism of the sauce business.
On Thursday, discussion surrounding this pink sauce was trending on Twitter, mostly criticizing the way it achieved viral fame through less-than-clear means.
“Buying PINK sauce that has an unknown flavor and is being shipped in BAGS during summer heat is definitely a choice,” one person
tweeted.
New Update - Pink Sauce Just Officially Failed
Pink Sauce Just Officially Failed | Asmongold Reacts to SunnyV2
OMG Some People are F U C K ING CLUELESS
