Has TikTok finally gone too far? The social media platform known for its bizarre cooking hacks now has yet another unorthodox kitchen shortcut—and it involves tampons.
Content creator @Victorias.way shared the controversial way she soaks up excess fat when cooking ground beef in a now-viral TikTok that has garnered over 47k likes and 3,500+ comments.
"The simplest way to remove excess fat when cooking ground meat is…to use two tampons," she wrote. And the video shows her doing precisely that.
Typically, these sorts of TikToks find a niche crowd of fans, but the internet's response is almost unanimous, and people are horrified.
"And this is why I never eat someone else’s cooking," one user wrote.
"DRAIN IT IN A STRAINER GOOD LAWRDT IS IT THAT HARD??" another chimed in.
"Hell nah!!! You outta line for this one," a third person wrote.
Some commenters wrote in with their own suggestions: "or a paper towel… napkin... toilet paper... tissues."
Others were more concerned about the chemicals found in tampons. "But the chemicals in the tampon cotton," a user wrote, with another adding, "aren't there carcinogens and glyphosate in those."
And they're not wrong. While tampons are reviewed by the FDA, the government agency "does not clear or approve individual materials that are used in the fabrication" of these period products.
"There’s an understanding that the FDA is regulating these products, and they are; it’s just not very adequate," attorney and co-founder of Period Law Laura Strausfeld told PBS. "The consumer is supposed to trust that when these products are put on shelves they’ve been vetted by the government. But it’s basically a rubber stamp."
According to the National Library of Medicine, even using tampons for their intended purpose can be a potential source of chemical exposure. Studies "indicate that tampons may be a source of exposure to metals and chemicals that have been largely ignored, and any related health effects are an important public health concern."
Now, imagine that in your food.
