Walmart customer buys Great Value soda. Then, she noticed something odd on the label: "They can put..."

Walmart is a reliable name in retail and offers products at lower prices with the promise of decent quality, especially under the Great Value label. It’s a brand whose products are sold at Walmart stores but one consumer alerted TikTok users about an alarming fact. Great Value’s Mountain Fighting drink happens to contain vegetable oil. That’s an ingredient that is quite odd to have in a soda in addition to being harmful.

TikTok user Emily (@emilypowser17) shared a short video showing the ingredients as the text overlay read, “Someone tell me why Walmart’s soda got vegetable oil in it?” Vegetable oils, as per a report in Healthy-ish & Happy, are highly processed substances that can cause inflammation. It can lead to diseases like breast cancer, mood disorders, gut imbalances, insulin resistance/ diabetes, obesity, arthritis, atherosclerosis, and obesity.

But the surprising part is that citrusy sodas often contain this particular substance. According to the United States Food & Drug Administration (FDA), brominated vegetable oil (BVO) prevents the citrus flavor from separating and messing up the beverage’s texture. However, it was outlawed by the FDA in August 2024 citing health concerns as per The Daily Dot. Brands have one year to make sure none of their products have BVO which is why perhaps certain citrusy sodas still contain the substance.

It’s still a cause for concern and TikTok users made their thoughts clear about the matter in the comments section of the video. “So your car can run on it,” a user called jhn.mx. commented. “Gotta get vegetables in them somehow,” quipped another user named John Anthony. “Because they can put unhealthy oil in ur drinks if they want duh,” user Landy added.

Mountain Fighting isn't the only Great Value product consumers have taken issue with of late. One such product of the company that has caused significant distress is corn. This issue was also highlighted by a TikTok user who is known on the platform as Peggy Bolton (@peggybolton). She noticed several differences between things written on the older cans and the newer cans of corn. First of all, the calories had increased from 45 to 90.

Secondly, the newer cans said that the product was from Thailand which was not the case previously. It also had a California warning label which stated that consuming it could expose a customer to lead, which means it might be a cause for cancer. However, that’s not all that’s changed from the old cans to the new cans. Perhaps the most alarming of all was the absence of one particular sticker.

Great Value’s canned corn previously had a “Great For You” sticker. A product can only get that label from a company that is approved by the FDA, USDA, and the IOM. However, that sticker was missing from the new cans. According to Bolton, pesticides used while farming corn could be a reason why the product seemingly looks more harmful than before. 

Follow @emilypowser17 and @peggybolton on TikTok for more such content.