A woman goes to pour Walmart chicken broth dated 2027, but something is clogging the spout: ‘What the heck is that?’

A TikTok creator named Sara went to use a carton of Great Value chicken broth from her fridge. Great Value is Walmart’s store brand, and the carton was stamped with a November 2027 date.

In a short clip, Sara says she sniffed the broth first, as she normally would, to “make sure that it still smelled good.” It apparently did not. “And I thought it smelled like cleaner, which was weird, right?” she says.

She then tips the carton to pour it. Sara says “it won’t even pour cause it’s clogged.” The opening does look partly blocked on camera.

Something strange comes out

When something finally comes out, it looks thick and stringy instead of runny. The clip ends on a pale, jelly-like mass stretching from the carton as she lifts it. “This smells like bleach,” Sara says. She adds, “It’s falling apart.” Then she looks at it and asks, “What the heck is that?”

The USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service notes that food dates generally speak to quality rather than safety. The video doesn’t show how long Sara had the carton open or how she stored it, and she doesn’t identify the substance she found. The USDA also recommends refrigerating opened chicken broth and using it within three to four days, so there are a few details here that the video doesn’t answer.

Sara isn’t the first Walmart shopper to post a video after finding something strange inside a packaged product. In one case, a woman said she discovered a strange substance inside a carton of Minute Maid juice after buying it from the store.

Some commenters under the video focused on how long the broth had been open. One of the most-liked replies, with more than 1,000 likes, says, “Um it’s bad after 7 days once opened. Regardless of the Best Buy date.”

Others had their own ideas about the texture. One commenter wrote, “It’s the chicken fat congealing.” Chicken broth can turn gelatinous when chilled because collagen turns into gelatin, according to NC State Cooperative Extension. That could explain the texture, although it doesn’t explain the smell Sara describes. Viewers had theories about the smell, too. One person asked, “Is that an actual Clorox wipe?” There is nothing in the video to suggest that, though.

She does not say whether she kept the carton or tasted the broth. Walmart has not publicly commented on the video, and the cause of the unusual texture and smell remains unclear.