Culinary YouTuber Rosanna Pansino, known for her “Nerdy Nummies” series, has stirred up controversy surrounding Lunchly, the newly launched snack kit venture from internet stars MrBeast, KSI, and Logan Paul. Pansino’s startling discovery of mold in a Lunchly product during a routine review has cast doubt over the much-hyped brand, raising questions about food safety and quality assurance.
Lunchly, touted as a nutritionally superior alternative to the long-established Lunchables, boasts a trio of offerings: “Turkey Stack ‘Ems,” “The Pizza,” and “Fiesta Nachos.” Each package combines a primary edible component with a Feastables chocolate bar (MrBeast’s confectionery line) and a bottle of Prime Hydration (the sports beverage brainchild of KSI and Logan Paul).
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In a video intended to juxtapose Lunchables with Lunchly, Pansino’s food expertise was challenged when she encountered a disturbing discrepancy in “The Pizza” selection. “This is disgusting. I was filming a video comparing Lunchables to Lunchly and was shocked when I opened ‘The Pizza’ Lunchly. The cheese had MOLD!” Pansino posted on X, formerly Twitter, accompanied by a video showing her opening “The Pizza.”
“The expiration date was still 2 months away! I checked online and found at least a dozen other people posting that their Lunchly’s were moldy too. Full video is on my YouTube channel.” Her post had been viewed 18.4 million times and counting.
Pansino, leveraging her background in food science and baking, delved deeper into the issue on her YouTube channel: “These ones are supposed to be good until December and we got them from the store. It says use by Dec. 8 and today’s date is Oct. 16, so these are supposed to be good for another two months.”
The baker and content creator, known for her meticulous attention to food safety, highlighted the potential health risks, particularly for the product’s target demographic – children. “This is really unhealthy, you should not eat mold. I think it’s a packaging issue, the sealant here feels really cheap. It is not vacuum-tight,” Pansino observed.
In her comprehensive review, Pansino said she planned to scrutinize the nutritional profile of Lunchly, comparing it to both Lunchables and homemade alternatives. “I was honestly going to go over nutritional facts and differences between the two with two physicians’ input and give you healthy alternatives to these things that are still affordable, I did not expect this,” she explained.
As Pansino showed close-ups of the blue mold, she continued: “I honestly wasn’t expecting that, I was thinking that, you know, they would taste pretty similar, just, you know, would not have the best, or better for you, ingredients. And I was going to go over nutritional facts and things but this is really concerning so I am just pausing from filming this to take a little break to show this.”
The YouTuber then used a fork to dig into the cheese gratings, which appeared to be spotted with mold. She added: “That is a ton of mold. That is really dangerous.” Pansino’s investigation extended beyond her initial discovery. She examined multiple Lunchly products, noting that only one of the Lunchly products she tested had mold.
The YouTuber’s findings sparked a flurry of responses from consumers and fellow content creators. One viewer commented, “This is actually concerning, like there’s no way they didn’t run tests on how long it lasted on the shelf and in the fridge after transportation to the stores, like this needs to be investigated.”
In response to skeptics who questioned the authenticity of her findings, Pansino firmly stated, “I did not fake this video. We bought this Lunchly from the store months before its expiration date and put it into our own fridge within 20 minutes.”
Pansino also took to social media to express her concerns further. In a series of tweets, she shared more images of the moldy product, stating, “Just opened my first @Lunchly ever! So. Much. Mold. What flavor of mold did you guys get?” and “My moldy @Lunchly! ‘Use By 08/Dec/24’ @US_FDA,” tagging the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to bring attention to the issue.
She concluded her commentary with a stark warning: “Please be careful everyone. This is not safe and not okay. Especially for children!”
Pansino’s discovery has amplified existing criticisms of Lunchly. Since its launch, the product has faced backlash over its nutritional value and marketing strategy. Critics, including fellow YouTuber DanTDM, have accused the creators of “selling crap to kids who don’t know better” for financial gain.
In response to earlier criticisms, MrBeast addressed the controversy on social media: “Lunchables sells hundreds of millions of units and countless people eat it. Our goal is to give people a better for you alternative to it. Our turkey meal for example is 80 less calories, 60% less sugar, more electrolytes, we use real cheese they use “cheese product” (they can’t call it cheese), higher quality meat, etc.”
He added, “Obviously eating fresh chicken and broccoli is healthier but if someone is going to eat a premade meal like this (which millions of people do thru lunchables) then I think giving them a higher quality version at roughly the same price is a net good imo [in my opinion] and why we launched Lunchly.”
However, a community note added to MrBeast’s post pointed out that his Feastables chocolates, initially marketed as healthier alternatives, had been reformulated and were “now no healthier and the extra ingredients are disguised as ‘unsweetened chocolate’ counting as one of the 5 ingredients.”
