Have you ever wondered how drinks at your favorite fast food chains are made? One TikTok user and McDonald's employee exposed the creative process behind how the fast food chain's iced tea is concocted. This user even claims the drink is a lot sweeter than most customers would expect.
According to TikTok user @gia2bad, who posted a video of how the sweet tea is created, the beloved drink uses an entire 4-pound bag of sugar in the beverage. Though the drink is built to serve many customers, 4 pounds of sugar provided enough viewers with a cause for concern.
This video left viewers completely stunned by just how much sugar they were consuming in turn.
More than a million views and 100,000 likes later, Gia's TikTok on the underbelly of her job at McDonald's exposed the massive consumption.
Overlay text on a video of a massive bag of sugar being poured into a liquid base read, “If y’all were wondering why the sweet tea so sweet at McDonald’s,” before stirring the substance up.
She added, “Yes we use a whole bag sometimes 2,” written as a caption.
Viewers did not hesitate to express their mixed range of emotions regarding what they saw. The New York Post reported that these were some of the most dramatic and reactive comments.
“Would you like some tea with your sugar,” someone quipped.
“Jaw = dropped that’s literally cancer,” another wrote.
“I’m about to get diabetes,” one commented.
“I remember I took a sip and almost passed out,” a viewer added. “it was so f – – king sweet It was like ten cans of diabetes.”
However, not every comment was fearful or disgusted - some even came to the aid of the chain, stating that not every item available at the eatery uses the same method to prepare the drinks.
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reports that the recommended amount of sugars should be less than 10% daily.
Things don't add up
The fast food chain's website listed a large sweet tea drink as containing 40 grams of sugar - but employees both on and off of the platform have contested this.
The chain has not commented on the manner so far - though this is not the first time accusations of such have gone viral on TikTok.
In 2022, a former McDonald's manager, Nicole Weiser, told Yahoo! News' dietary blog that she had a remarkably similar experience.