A California man’s Golden Corral dinner took an unsettling turn after he cut into a chicken wing and saw reddish liquid that appeared to be blood. TikTok creator Daniel (@danielsalazar) documented the moment in a September 2026 video. He questioned whether the chicken was normal and said he was concerned about what he had found.
Daniel later showed viewers his third plate from the buffet. He explained that he had already made several trips through the food line before cutting into the chicken. He then focused the camera on the reddish liquid inside the meat. He also joked that he might not make it to work the next day if the food made him sick, captioning the video “my tummy hurt.”
By the time he showed his third plate, he had moved on from the chicken. Instead, he filled his plate with ingredients from the taco bar. Daniel does not identify the exact Golden Corral location in his post. In other posts, he notes he’s in Salinas, California.
But the liquid may not have been blood
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service says myoglobin, a protein found in muscle tissue, accounts for much of the red color in meat. Myoglobin stores oxygen in muscle cells, and its presence can give poultry a pink or reddish appearance.
The USDA also says the color of cooked poultry does not reliably indicate whether it is safe to eat. Properly cooked poultry can remain pink, and chemical changes during cooking can contribute to that color.
There is another reason people sometimes mistake reddish liquid in chicken for blood. The USDA says most blood gets removed during poultry slaughter, leaving only a small amount in the muscle tissue. The agency notes that the liquid found in packaged fresh chicken often consists mostly of water absorbed during chilling.
The USDA recommends cooking all poultry to a minimum internal temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit, measured with a food thermometer. The agency says a thermometer reliably determines whether poultry has reached a temperature sufficient to destroy harmful bacteria.
For a buffet customer, however, there is no practical way to take a temperature reading before eating a piece of cooked chicken. If the meat appears undercooked or raises food-safety concerns, the safest approach is to stop eating it and alert restaurant staff. For Daniel, the solution was simple: Skip the chicken and make tacos instead.
Allegations of undercooked chicken are not limited to Golden Corral. In a separate post, an Alabama woman ordered chicken at Longhorn Steakhouse which she claimed was raw.
Published: Sep 10, 2026 11:11 am