A woman has discovered unique ingredients in a box of Walmart Great Value mashed potatoes— seafood.
In a TikTok video, creator Breeanna (@bishbagel) revealed unique ingredients listed on Great Value food products found in her kitchen. First, she took out an unopened bag of marshmallows where the bag showed the marshmallows “may contain traces of” tilapia. Next, Breeanna unveiled her syrup where there are traces of anchovies.
The video starts off with a stitch from TikTok user Paden Ferguson (@padiano) where he asks, “When was the last time we checked in on Great Value brand at Walmart? Because I have some concerns.” At the end of her video, Breeanna discovered there may be traces of trout, whitefish, and clams in a box of Great Value mashed potatoes. This discovery inspired the content creator to want to “deep clean” her pantry, she said.
“Yall what is actually wrong with Walmart,” she asked in the caption.
The Daily Dot reached out to Breeanna via TikTok comment and direct message and Walmart via media relations form. Breeanna’s video amassed more than 4 million views as of May 29, where viewers revealed why the items contained fish.
“Anything with gelatin will have fish traces because it’s part of the process,” one viewer wrote.
“Gelatin. The answer is gelatin, as it’s often derived from sardines, tilapia, etc,” a second echoed.
“The marshmallows have it in there [because] they are kosher the syrup [is] to give body and favor,” a third commented.
According to one study, gelatin historically has been derived from “pig skin, cattle bones, and cattle hides,” but recently gelatin derived from fish skins have proliferated the market.
In addition, others shared other reasons for the unique ingredients.
“The ‘may contain’ is due to possible cross-contamination, it’s so they can’t get sued if someone has an allergic reaction,” a second said.
“it just means those items are found in the same manufacturing plant. It doesn’t mean it’s in there,” a third stated.
However, Breeanna isn’t the only content creator to make this discovery. In April, Paden Ferguson was the one who raised awareness about the Great Value products. He went viral after finding out that the Great Value marshmallows may contain Tilapia. From there, he found that Great Value syrup may contain anchovies. This prompted other content creators like Breeanna decided to look into themselves.
During an interview with The Daily Dot, Breeanna revealed that she made this discovery when she saw the video she stitched to her TikTok. So far, she’s only found this in soy sauce and the products she showed in the video. However, she bring awareness for two reasons: it could save someone’s life, and she found the clip funny.
“I knew some people weren’t going to check their syrup or boxed mashed potatoes if they have a fish allergy, because you don’t expect that to have touched fish. I wanted to let people know because it might save someone’s life who doesn’t know and by some of the comments it did,” she shared via TikTok direct message. “I honestly thought it was funny to see that on the bottle and decided to share my finds.”
Despite this disturbing discovery, Breeanna stated she will still shop at Walmart and purchase Great Value products because of her budget and not being allergic to fish. In addition, according to the content creator, only some Great Value products contain fish.
“I wanted to look more into it because some of my great value items don’t say that, and if they’re all made in the same factory, why do some possibly have fish contaminants and some don’t?” she said.