Is the Wild West of TikTok foods coming to an end?

A vibrant and colorful illustration depicts TikTok's rapid sales of candy through the platform.

Many small business owners have found success selling candy on TikTok. Now, new guidelines from the social media platform will drastically limit what foods these small businesses can sell. Megan Rizzo/Eater

If you have a small food business, TikTok is where you go to advertise. It’s where freeze-dried candy sellers and jelly crystal makers show off their creations, reeling in customers. But it’s also been a kind of Wild West for homemade food, where products like the controversial pink sauce and dubiously preserved pickles have both blown up, despite concerns about their production.

TikTok is now leaning into its designation as “QVC for Gen Z” with the large-scale launch of TikTok Shop, a commerce add-on that makes it even easier for creators to sell things. “We have a very aggressive plan to make a splash in the industry and make sure that people out there understand that TikTok is a place for shopping,” TikTok executive Nico Le Bourgeois told the New York Times. But homemade food — as much as it has thrived on TikTok until now — isn’t welcome in this new marketplace, Insider has reported.

Perhaps to protect against future pink sauce-esque controversies, TikTok has outlined the food products that it’s prohibiting on TikTok Shop: perishable food; food that must be stored at a specific temperature; prepackaged food for children under three years old; baby formula; food additives; food that isn’t intended for retail sale in the United States; and all homemade food products.

The final category specifically calls out FYP-famous products: freeze-dried candies, chamoy gummies, and crystal candies. (It’s a big difference from how TikTok has handled the selling of food in the United Kingdom: Last year, it enabled food brands to sell fresh food including fish and pasta on TikTok Shop.)

Indeed, the backlash to shoppable TikTok food has grown recently. A video titled “Homemade TikTok foods are a hazard” has over 3.6 million views on YouTube, and Eater’s Amy McCarthy implored earlier this year: “Please stop buying food from social media influencers.” As McCarthy explains, TikTok creators aren’t necessarily following cottage food laws, and it’s unclear whether or not they have food-handling experience or training. Sauces and freeze-dried foods, for example, both go against New York State’s home processing regulations.

But while TikTok’s Shop policies might be good for consumer protection, it’s bad news for sellers who rely on the platform for sales. It’s a familiar tale at this point: Small businesses grow dependent on a platform, only to get pummeled by its changes. Insider confirmed that TikTok is taking down food products in violation of this policy. “For me, it means we’re going out of business,” one freeze-dried candy seller — who made 1,400 sales through TikTok in a month — told Insider. Although potential customers can still go directly to a business’s website, TikTok Shop simplifies the process of buying what you scroll past.

As TikTok Shop gains traction, it’ll certainly influence the small food business world; we’ll keep following along.

More reading:

Finally, an explanation for why Lana del Rey worked a shift at a Waffle House.
For more on how TikTok has changed the food landscape, the New York Times dives into the growing world of TikTok creator cookbooks.
Also from the Times: the updated big, annual Restaurant List.
“Popcorn is a time capsule for how we snack,” according to Taste.
Punch has the story on bar menus that are way more fussy than a QR code.

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