A collective eyebrow has been raised after an eagle-eyed consumer spotted something out of the ordinary on a supermarket shelf.
Down the international aisle in Woolworths, a shopper named Brayden Smith pulled an unsuspecting item from the top shelf before spinning it around to reveal its ingredients.
He presented a bottle of Cooking Sake, which many were shocked to discover was jammed with an eye-watering volume of alcohol content.
With the warning: “not suitable for drinking”, the bottle stated it had a 13.5 per cent to 14.5 per cent alcohol content.
“In Woolies, they’ve got Cooking Sake, surely it can’t be alcoholic or anything right?” Mr Smith said in a TikTok clip.
“Nope, it is. Up to 14.5 per cent alcohol volume. For $3.60.
“Why go to the pub when you can go to Woolies?” he said.
Hundreds of people responded proclaiming they would never have suspected an item in the Asian cooking section would have such a high dose of alcohol.
“Wow what! That’s wild. I don’t drink but if I did …” one person wrote in a comment.
“Well done mate! Don’t tell everyone the secrets,” another said.
Many had more of a sensible reaction, pointing to the warning and the fact the bottle had an insane salt content of 580mg per 25ml.
“Almost your whole recommended daily intake of salt in one bottle though,” someone said.
Another claimed to feel the effects even after using it with food.
“I put this in my sushi all the time. No wonder I feel drunk after,” they wrote.
Someone with experience dared viewers to try and drink it.
“Well try to drink it and you will know why …. Tastes good after you cook it with other things, not so delicious if you drink it directly,” they wrote.
The product is sold in both Woolworths and Coles, along with other items viewers said had oddly high alcohol contents like vanilla essence and hand sanitiser.
“Cooking sake and wines are not intended for consumption as a beverage and the labels state that the products are not suitable for drinking,” a spokesperson for Woolworths said.
“We strongly encourage customers to follow the guidelines and only use the products for their intended cooking purposes.”