A Canned Nacho Cheese Spill Turned A Highway Into A Gooey Nightmare

When traffic slows, the first things that come to mind are accidents and road construction. What few expect is a sea of sticky, yellow nacho cheese covering the highway. However, that is exactly what drivers met on a portion of Interstate 30 West near Prescott, Arkansas, after a truck carrying Ricos Gourmet Nacho Cheese Sauce overturned. Luckily, no one was hurt, but after the Arkansas Department of Transportation took to social media with photos, fans let loose with the humor.

"Nacho ordinary highway spill. Certainly not the best queso scenario," punned KATV journalist Cassandra Webb on the ARDOT Facebook page. "Thankfully, it's all clear, and it's nacho problem anymore (I'll see myself out)," others chimed in. "Nacho easiest clean up on that scene today," commented Matthew Brzezinski, with Tyler James Chapman adding, "I hope that was nacho load, but someone else's." Some also worried about the San Antonio-based Ricos, albeit in a joking sort of way. "Oh, the humanity," commented one Twitter user. "Please say it wasn't Ricos." While most of the humor revolved around nacho jokes, some pointed to other food-related road disasters that have happened. Although they're not an everyday occurrence, food truck spills happen more often than many realize.

Food truck accidents have become more common over the years. One of the most memorable was the massive highway food spill on Interstate 70 in Pennsylvania in February 2022. A truck carrying meat trimmings (hot dog filler) flipped over, depositing a pink, gooey, disgusting mess all over the highway. Seeing what the innards of a hot dog look like when they're mashed all over the road reminded people about all the things they don't want to know about hot dogs, such as how little meat is actually in them.

At least with nacho sauce, we know what we're dealing with, right? Peggy Armstrong of  the International Dairy Foods Association explained to Food & Wine that not only is there no definition from the FDA for nacho cheese, but "each company that makes a nacho cheese product has a different recipe." Ricos might use cheddar in their nacho sauce, while another company may incorporate something else. Regardless of brand, at least we know nacho cheese contains some actual cheese.