Get ready because Pink Sauce is headed to your local Walmart.
The viral Pepto-colored condiment created by Chef Pii first went viral on TIkTok in June of 2022, racking up views and comments from people everywhere. Months later, the sauce's creator partnered with Dave’s Gourmet to bring her pink product to “the commercial market.”
On Jan. 11, the company announced in a press release that Walmart will be the exclusive retailer for Pink Sauce until July 2023. The product will be available in over 4,300 stores and online starting in mid-January.
According to Dave’s Gourmet, people will also be able to buy vegan and gluten-free versions of the sauce.
Following the announcement, Chef Pii, who is a Miami-based private chef and social media influencer, shared video of her picking up a bottle of her creation at a Walmart store.
Chef Pii first showed off her pink sauce in a June 11, 2022, TikTok which showed her dipping a chicken tender into a bowl filled with the fuchsia-colored sauce. It quickly went viral, with people wondering what it was made of and how it tasted.
In another video, she shared the ingredients she uses, which are sunflower seed oil, honey, chili, garlic and dragon fruit (what makes it pink).
As it gained more eyes, people started raising food safety concerns.
In July, Chef Pii told TODAY.com that she was fully aware of the concerns and had paused production, as well as explained why the sauce's color kept changing.
“We changed the color due to the audience’s perspective, because they were complaining that the pink was too bright,” Chef Pii said. “So then we made it a little lighter. Everything that they’re judging, those are all prototypes.”
She also added “(Our customers’) health is our number one priority. Their trust is our number one priority, making them happy. And bringing the pink sauce out properly is our number one priority.”
At the time, TODAY.com had reached out to the Food and Drug Administration to verify if the sauce was in the process of product registry. While a spokesperson didn't confirm or deny, it noted that as a general matter, food producers are required to follow Current Good Manufacturing Practices to help ensure the safety of food.
“As is always the case, it is a manufacturer’s continuing responsibility to ensure that foods marketed are safe, wholesome and in compliance with all applicable legal and regulatory requirements,” the spokesperson said, adding that it “takes seriously reports of illnesses or injury that appear likely to have been caused by an FDA-regulated product.”
After Chef Pii and Dave’s Gourmet partnered together in August of last year, the company noted that they would help her bring the product to a commercial scale “under the required food safety manufacturing guidelines.”
In their most recent press release, announcing the Walmart news, Dave’s Gourmet stated, “The sauce is manufactured under FDA guidelines in an SQF-certified facility and is shelf-stable.”