Ocean Spray investigating after viral videos appear to show cans of Thanksgiving cranberry sauce filled with water

Ocean Spray is investigating after viral videos of its cranberry sauce appeared to show cans of the Thanksgiving staple filled with water.

A TikTok video posted last Friday showed someone opening a can of Ocean Spray to find it seemingly full of water instead of cranberry sauce. Two other open cans with water inside were sitting on the counter in the video that has already garnered 10.4 million views.

“We’re aware of a few reports about cans containing water instead of cranberry sauce, and we’re looking into how this may have happened,” Ocean Spray said in a statement to multiple media outlets.

Another Ocean Spray customer shared her experience with the canned cranberry sauce in a video posted on Facebook just after Thanksgiving.

In the video, which has generated 102,000 views, the woman opened a can of cranberry sauce to find it apparently filled with water, just like the other customer. Another can that had been frozen was filled with ice, someone in the video said.

Ocean Spray is investigating its cranberry sauce after viral videos appeared to show cans of the Thanksgiving staple filled with water (Kylie Cooper/REUTERS)

“This was my ocean spray cranberry sauce yesterday… 4 cans…who else had this happen?” the woman wrote in the video’s caption.

Ocean Spray said that the claims of a cranberry sauce fiasco was an important matter and it is investigating.

“Millions of families enjoyed their cranberry sauce this holiday season, but even one can of sauce not meeting expectations matters to us,” Ocean Spray said. “We’ve reached out to the folks who shared these videos to learn more and make it right.”

The Massachusetts-based company was established in 1930 with just three independent cranberry growers. Ocean Spray now has more than 700 farmers. One of the original farmers, Marcus Urann, created the signature jellied cranberry sauce in 1912. The canned sauce became available across the country in 1941.

Joan Driggs, who was a vice president at marketing research firm IRI at the time, told The New York Times in a November 2022 article, the jellied cranberry sauce is “that same product you count on year after year.”

But that may not have been the case for everyone this past Thanksgiving.