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Prebiotic sodas are packed with added fiber, which is purported to support your gut health and aid digestion. But according to one Iowa-based TikTok creator, there was allegedly one other kind of “extra” in a can of Olipop that she could probably have done without.
On July 1, Laine Bullinger posted a video on TikTok sharing her experience with a can of strawberry-vanilla Olipop. In the video, which has since received more than 2.5 million views, Bullinger says that her boyfriend, Garrett, was drinking the Olipop, but had to stop because it tasted so “gross.” When Bullinger poured some of the leftover soda into a glass, she says in the video, she noticed the liquid contained blackish chunks. The can itself appeared to hold more of the same. That’s when Garrett cut the can in two and discovered that the inside was coated with some dark substance, as shown in the TikTok below:
TikTok content
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“It kind of looked like it had a skin on one side, but it was black, kind of like mold,” Bullinger tells SELF. “We’re not sure definitely what it is yet.”
When SELF contacted Olipop, a spokesperson for the brand said they were aware of the video and immediately reached out to Bullinger. “Our quality control team will be looking into the details, including production codes and other identifiers, from the customer to understand and address any issue,” the spokesperson told SELF on July 3. “We take customer safety and any quality concerns very seriously, and we will take any actions necessary.”
According to Bullinger, Olipop DM’d her on TikTok to discuss the situation. In subsequent emails, she says, a rep apologized, offered to send the couple more Olipop, asked them if they wanted a refund, and requested they ship back the can and the substance from inside (on the company’s dime). Per the company, she says, the testing required to identify the substance might take a couple weeks. In a statement to SELF on July 10, the Olipop spokesperson said the company is “committed to doing any and all testing and investigation necessary to ensure that the root cause of this matter is identified.”
So what yucky things can hang out (or, gross, grow) in canned sodas? We connected with a few food safety experts to find out.
For one, mold can absolutely develop in canned goods, Kristen Gibson, PhD, a professor in the department of food science and the director of the Center for Food Safety at the University of Arkansas, tells SELF.
This can be due to failures at various stages of the production process, Dr. Gibson says. Take “underprocessing,” which can occur when products aren’t held at the proper temperature or pressure for the appropriate amount of time or aren’t sealed properly, she explains. Poor ingredient quality and inadequate cleaning and sanitation (which can lead to contamination) can be factors too. And so can improper storage: For instance, leaving cans in a hot car or garage for a period of time could affect the contents, Darin Detwiler, PhD, a food safety expert and associate teaching professor at Northeastern University’s College of Professional Studies, tells SELF. (In regard to this Olipop incident, though, Bullinger said in the comments section of her TikTok video that they kept their cans refrigerated.)
Any or all of these potential issues, Dr. Gibson says, could enable fungi to grow within the can, possibly forming that dark “skin”—or, as she calls it, “a mold mat.”
The Olipop spokesperson told SELF their quality assurance team looked into the potential issues mentioned above during the preliminary phases of their investigation. They “found no issues from the batch with the lot code provided” and were able to confirm that all cans from that lot were correctly sealed, equipment properly sanitized, and final products properly stored. “At this time, there is no evidence this issue occurred in the Olipop production facility,” she said. “But we take customer safety and any quality concerns very seriously and will continue to investigate this matter.”
While the thought of consuming even a small amount of mold may have you retching, Dr. Gibson says, it’s typically not life-threatening for most people—just “gross.” However, she cautions, mold can make its surrounding environment more hospitable to other microorganisms (like bacteria) by increasing the overall pH. And some of those, like Clostridium botulinum, can pose a health risk if they make their way into your body. Basically, the presence of mold “could mean there’s other microbes in there that aren’t being properly controlled,” she says.
It’s also possible that ingesting certain types of mold could cause respiratory issues or trigger an allergic reaction, even one as severe as anaphylaxis. And then there’s the risk of exposure to mycotoxins—toxic compounds that can cause everything from gastrointestinal distress to neurological problems, Dr. Detwiler explains.
Higher-risk groups—like young children, elderly adults, pregnant people, and immunocompromised folks—could be especially vulnerable to ill effects, according to Dr. Detwiler. “What may be an inconvenience for a healthy adult could literally be life-threatening for someone else,” he says. If Grandma or a toddler chows down on some mold, he says, “the outcome could be completely different.”
So far, Garrett hasn’t noticed any worrying symptoms, according to Bullinger, and as of right now, the couple hasn’t decided to swear off Olipop forever. “If they were to be able to find out that it was a singular can incident, and maybe it just had to do with a bum can being packaged poorly, then our trust would be built back up and I can see us drinking more,” Bullinger says. After all, she adds, Garrett “really did like the other flavors.”
And Olipop isn’t the only company to be presented with this type of situation, according to Dr. Detwiler. “We’ve had problems with canning and packaging since the dawn of packaging and canning,” he says. “These things happen.” Despite the high visibility of stories like Bullinger’s, you’re really not likely to pop open a fresh food product to find it contaminated with mold, according to Dr. Gibson. Generally speaking, the US food supply “is very good, high-quality, and safe,” she says.
In the meantime, though, if the thought of possibly chugging down a mold mat has you feeling skeeved, you can take a page out of Dr. Gibson’s book for extra assurance: “[In high school], I opened a can of something and started drinking it, and a slimy, goopy thing came out, and I was traumatized,” she says. “And so I pour things out of cans all the time.”
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