A routine snack break turned into a potential food safety crisis for one woman after she noticed something that didn’t belong on her supposedly plain crackers.
For anyone with peanut allergies, this discovery could have been life-threatening.
But those in the allergen community say that while the incident looks scary, it’s actually a well-known phenomenon. And the crackers are safe to eat.
Woman Finds Peanut Butter On Plain Ritz Crackers
In a viral video with more than 25,000 views, Tayler (@tayyvetto) shared a disturbing discovery after opening a fresh pack of Ritz crackers.
The video—set to the ominous “oh no, oh no no no no no” TikTok sound—shows what appears to be a brown paste stuck on the side of three to four crackers.
The paste resembles peanut butter in both texture and color—and that’s exactly what Tayler suspects it is, even though she purchased plain Ritz crackers, not the peanut butter variety.
“Opened up a fresh pack of Ritz crackers just to find they had peanut butter on them????” reads the text overlay on the video. “If you’re allergic to peanut butter please inspect your Ritz before you eat it.”
In the caption, Tayler added: “Even though I love me some peanut butter, beware!!!”
The implication is clear and alarming: somehow, peanut butter ended up on crackers that should have been plain, suggesting a potential cross-contamination issue during manufacturing or packaging. For someone with a severe peanut allergy, eating these crackers without noticing could trigger anaphylaxis, a potentially fatal allergic reaction.
Tayler caught the issue before eating the crackers, but her warning to others suggests she’s concerned about people who might not inspect their food as carefully—particularly those with life-threatening allergies who trust that plain crackers won’t contain allergens.
In an email to BroBible, Tayler said the following:
“Just opened up a fresh pack to find potential peanut butter. I tried reaching out to Ritz and Nabisco and got an automated response that the email server was not valid so I’m still working on getting in contact with them to hear a response.”
What Is Cracker Goo?
Before jumping to conclusions about contamination, it’s worth understanding a phenomenon that confuses—and sometimes terrifies—people with peanut allergies: cracker goo.
According to T-Rexes Can’t Have Peanuts, a blog written by a parent of a child with severe food allergies, cracker goo is “a paste of oil and salt that builds up during the manufacturing process.” The substance looks, smells, and even tastes eerily similar to peanut butter, which understandably causes panic for people who need to avoid peanuts.
The blogger recounted an incident where her daughter’s daycare teacher called in distress after noticing what appeared to be peanut butter on plain Ritz crackers served to the children. The teacher had tasted it and was convinced it was peanut butter, putting the allergy-prone child at risk.
But it wasn’t peanut butter at all, just cracker goo, a harmless byproduct of production that’s well-known in the food allergy community but can fool even experienced caregivers. The substance typically appears as a brownish paste on the edges of crackers and is simply a concentration of the oils and seasonings used in manufacturing.
Ritz Has A Recent History Of Mislabeling Issues
Tayler’s discovery is particularly concerning given Ritz’s recent track record with labeling errors.
On November 30, 2025, The Healthy reported that Mondelez Global LLC, Ritz’s parent company, issued a recall for select boxes of Ritz Peanut Butter Cracker Sandwiches sold in 20-pack cartons at Wegmans and potentially other retailers. The affected cartons included individually wrapped packs incorrectly labeled as the cheese variety when they actually contained peanut butter.
This isn’t the first time Ritza has faced this kind of issue. In July 2025, the FDA announced a voluntary recall of four different Ritz Peanut Butter Cracker Sandwich sizes—the 8-pack, 20-pack, 40-pack, and 20-pack variety pack—for the exact same issue: products labeled as cheese that actually contained peanut butter.
That earlier recall was traced to defects in the film packaging rolls used to wrap the peanut butter products, caused by a supplier error. Mondelez said at the time they’d taken corrective measures to prevent future incidents. It seems those measures didn’t work.
Why Peanut Allergies Are So Dangerous
For people without allergies, a mislabeling mix-up might seem like a minor inconvenience. But for the nearly 2.5% of U.S. children with peanut allergies, it could be deadly.
According to the American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, peanut allergy is one of the most common food allergies in American children—and it’s been rising. A 2017 study found that peanut allergy in children had increased 21% since 2010.
Peanuts are one of the food allergens most commonly associated with anaphylaxis, a sudden and potentially fatal reaction that requires immediate treatment with epinephrine (commonly known as the EpiPen). Symptoms can include impaired breathing, throat swelling, a sudden drop in blood pressure, pale or blue-colored skin, fainting, dizziness, vomiting, hives, and confusion.
The FDA requires manufacturers to clearly label peanuts as an ingredient under the Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act of 2004.
While up to 20% of people with peanut allergies may eventually outgrow them, that still leaves millions of Americans who must vigilantly check every label and trust that manufacturers are following proper procedures.
Commenters React
“It’s not peanut butter… someone posted about it several years ago… it’s ritz crumb,” a top comment read.
“I’ve had this happen to me!!! I was like omg what if I was allergic to peanut butter! I’d be a millionaire,” a person said.
“It’s not peanut butter. It’s cracker goo. Oil and crushed cracker crumbs,” another explained.
@tayyvetto Even though I love me some peanut butter, beware!!! @RitzCrackersID #ritzcrackers #oops #peanutbutter
BroBible reached out to Tayler for comment via email and Instagram direct message and Nabisco’s parent company via email.