What's Inside Squishy, Tasty Looking Tide Pods
3What's Inside Squishy, Tasty-Looking Tide Pods.
Armed only with social media and a good data plan, teenagers today can make just about anything go viral. Or, in the case of Tide Pods, go viral again. Jokes about eating the squishy, day-glo detergent packs have been racing around the internet since Procter & Gamble introduced the pods in 2012. I mean, come on. They do look delicious. But in the last week the meme has upped its stakes; now teens are daring each other to record themselves eating these things. Which is why social feeds all over the country are now filled with videos of kids gagging, coughing, and spitting out mouthfuls of pressure-packed soap. (Spoiler, cooking them first doesn’t make them any more palatable). Why this, why now? We don’t have any answers for that. But we can tell you exactly what all these Tide Pod Challengers are putting in their mouths.
This stuff forms the film that holds the other ingredients in a jolly, candylike form. It's a water-soluble polymer related to Elmer's Glue: Pop it in the wash and it dissolves, releasing detergenty goodness without any messy spills. Tide has said its three-chambered design "maximizes the consumer experience," which probably means keeping the ingredients separated so that they don't neutralize each other while sitting on the shelf.
In 2015, Tide added a bittering agent to its outer film to discourage kids from eating and swallowing it. Their additive of choice: an inert, white powder called denatorium benzoate. It’s believed to be the bitterest known substance, detectable at just a few parts per million. It’s used all over the house and garage to make sure you spit out all kinds of things, from rubbing alcohol to antifreeze. (Tide has also strengthened the outer layer so a child can’t easily squeeze it open, but they won’t give us more details.)
You may know it as soap. It works by attaching its hydrocarbon chain to the grease or oil in a clothing stain, allowing both to be washed away by water.