A screenshot of a YouTube video where chicken is covered in green NyQuil on a skillet.

There is a good chance that you have heard about the practice of cooking chicken in NyQuil. You would think that a lot of people have been doing this stupid thing since the Food and Drug Administration warned about it. But isn't it?

I felt like I'd seen it before when I first read about the chicken. I had heard about the chicken before, but the FDA's warning out of the blue seemed strange. I found out that the chicken, also known as "sleepy chicken", had appeared on 4chan and TikTok in the past year.

I hadn't heard about the chicken for a long time. There were videos from this week on the practice spurred by the FDA's warning. There had been sporadic mentions of the chicken before those posts.

Interest in the search term "NyQuil chicken" spiked in January but then stayed low until September, when the FDA issued a warning about the product.

People haven't been talking about the chicken in months. The FDA brought it up. The agency referred to it as a challenge.

The experts were confused by the warning. He didn't understand the FDA's reasoning for speaking out about chicken now, stating that the agency has " bigger chickens to cook."

Dr. Ryan Marino said the timing was "bizarre" and that it drew more attention to the chicken.

Gizmodo reached out to the FDA to request recent examples of the chicken trend it had found, and asked why it chose this moment to warn against the trend.

In an email reply, the FDA said its publication "proactively communicated how to keep children safe and prevent potentially harmful trends" Recent examples of the chicken trend weren't provided.

The FDA observed social media trends that promoted dangerous misuse of drugs. The FDA prepared a consumer update. According to the FDA, the communication informs health care professionals and consumers of the safety concern to facilitate its monitoring, management and hopefully risk reduction. The update includes directions on how to store and use over-the-counter drugs in a safe manner.

Misinformation Experts Disagree About Impact, But Say the FDA Acted Too Slow on NyQuil Chicken

The FDA was slow to the point of missing the train if not more, according to an email from an associate professor. The effect of social media content on health communication was studied by Ophir and it was found that the recipe for the chicken first appeared on 4chan.

According to the University of Buffalo professor, it is not clear why the FDA decided to tackle the misinformation around this issue now. He thought that the agency might have wanted to address it back when it was a hot topic. It is possible that the FDA has information about the practice that he does not.

The professor said that the implications of such an announcement could be massive.

A national buzzing story is what might have been a small online curiosity. It is possible that the FDA exposed a lot of new people to the challenge. "He said that." Vulnerable adolescents are more susceptible to social influence of this type, according to studies. Young people could join the trend if the issue is raised to national attention.

The timing of the FDA debunk was agreed to by Leticia Bode, an associate professor at Georgetown University. She said that experts prefer to make corrections in as close proximity to the misinformation as possible.

There are different courses of action to follow if this isn't possible. The Debunking Handbook is a guide developed in 2020. The handbook says that misinformation should be monitored without debunking so as to not amplify its reach. Experts should debunk misinformation if it gets traction.

She said that you could either argue that the misinformation was unknown or that it had traction. The delayed debunk is likely to just draw new attention to the general idea of cooking chicken in the area, which may or may not lead to more people trying it out.

While he believes the FDA and other organizations should do a case-by-case evaluation of misinformation as it emerges, it is better to rely on a quick, robust, science.

Correcting misinformation can cause people to become more entrenched in their views, which is known as the backfire effect.

He said that research from 2020 showed that it is safe to repeat misinformation.

Is Anyone Actually Cooking Chicken in NyQuil and Eating It?

It would be difficult to find internet- connected people in the U.S. who haven't heard about the FDA warning against the dangers of chicken. It has made a difference in late-night talk shows. On The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, there was a mention of the chicken. There is a long list of media outlets that have covered it.

Everyone is wondering if people are actually cooking chicken and eating it.

Ryan Marino, a medical toxicologist and assistant professor at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, told Gizmodo that he thinks the chicken is more likely to be a symptom of a disease. He doesn't know of any reports of people presenting for medical care after eating chicken.

The toxicologist is concerned that cooking chicken in NyQuil will cause an overdose of the drug. Marino explained that the main ingredients in the product are tylenol, doxylamine and dextromethorphan.

In an overdose, all 3 of these ingredients can cause death. It is an unpleasant way to die.

Marino said it was difficult to draw a line between debunking and drawing attention to problematic things. The timing of the warning seems odd, he said.

Marino believed that the FDA warning was not the right thing to do. There are a lot of misinformation with a lot of real-life harms.

He hoped that the drug and food issues were not being ignored for old/found cringe content on TikTok.

There is a new update at 4:25 p.m. The FDA commented on the post.