People in West Palm Beach are excited that a Trader Joe’s is coming to the city’s South End.
No longer will West Palm Beach residents have to trek west to Wellington or north to Palm Beach Gardens for their fix of the popular, California-based grocer’s sought-after, affordably priced meals, snacks and produce. The grocer will be the anchor tenant at the development on the city’s border with Lake Worth Beach, just south of a Winn-Dixie store in the Palm Coast Plaza.
But Trader Joe’s is grabbing attention nationally for the wrong reasons, leaving people and their stomachs second-guessing before satisfying their sweet tooth.
The popular grocery chain’s new sugar-free Sweet and Sour Gummy Worms are grabbing eyeballs for being an unexpected laxative, with a single serving of the candy containing 14 grams of fiber, which is about half the daily amount recommended by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Each serving contains about eight pieces of the candy.
Trader Joe’s new “fruity-flavored candies,” however, are not advertised as a high-fiber food product, completely blindsiding shoppers who bought them as a simple sweet treat.
“I ate the whole bag high not realizing how much fiber was in these,” one person wrote on Reddit. “I have been pooping for three days now!”
“I’ve been pooping all day and my stomach keeps rumbling,” another wrote, while one joked, “These should be great for curing constipation.”
“I made a mistake and ate a whole bag while watching tv. I was late for work that next morning,” a TikTok user Sondra Tamagotchi shared on May 20.
Trader Joe’s warns customers
After the gummies gained traction for their unexpected side effects, customers reported that Trader Joe’s employees are alerting buyers about the candy’s high-fiber content.
“The cashier at the register told me they are loaded with fiber,” a Reddit user wrote. “I’m glad she told me. It was a little odd, but good info.”
TikTok user Vegan Hacks Pod, in a video posted May 19, also showed a warning sign posted next to the gummies at their local Trader Joe’s, saying that each bag of these gummy worms contains 70 grams of fiber.
Although the candies have zero grams of sugar, Trader Joe’s says the product should not be considered a low-calorie food, as each serving contains 35 calories. The worms get their sweetness from a blend of allulose, organic erythritol and monk fruit extract, according to the packaging.
The product is not listed on Trader Joe’s website at the moment, but that is not unusual.
“You won’t find every Trader Joe’s product represented on our website,” the grocery chain says. “The best place to go for information about our products – old favorites and new discoveries! – is your neighborhood Trader Joe’s.”
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Trader Joe’s gummy worms are causing an unexpected side effect
Reporting by Saman Shafiq, USA TODAY Network / Palm Beach Post
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
