The best part of boxed mac and cheese is the cheese sauce. What happens when you open a box of gluten-free Kraft Mac & Cheese and find nothing inside? That was the situation Abby Engel found herself in when she bought four boxes from four separate stores and discovered they were missing that crucial element. Engel, who lives in Michigan, explained in a video on TikTok that contacting Kraft didn’t solve the problem, because the company sent her coupons for another free box — and so she’s stuck in an endless loop of cheese-less, wheat-less macaroni, if you will.

“The thing is, then I go in to use that coupon, and I get another box of Mac & Cheese, and when I open it, there’s no sauce packet in it,” explains Abby, who has celiac disease and cannot eat gluten , in her message of November 19. “So giving me a coupon for another box of Mac & Cheese doesn’t solve the problem.”

Engel said that in addition to going to several stores in her city, including Walmart and Kroger, she also went to a store to look for the product while on a business trip. None had the cheese sauce in it.

Frustrating? Certainly. The real problem, however, lies in Kraft’s response to English’s issue and her efforts to report the problem. “We apologize for this problem. We currently have no quality issues with our gluten-free Kraft Mac and Cheese,” the brand said. Engel replied: “Then why did I open four boxes without packets of cheese?”

Engel’s problem with Kraft wasn’t just about the inconvenience of not having macaroni and cheese on hand. She said her gluten-free diet is a result of celiac disease, an autoimmune disease diagnosed five years ago.

For people with celiac disease, gluten (the proteins found in wheat, barley and rye) triggers an immune response in the small intestine, leading to symptoms such as diarrhea, fatigue, weight loss, bloating or anemia, as well as malabsorption of nutrients. Engel said Kraft’s Mac & Cheese has been a “comfort food” for her as she works with a therapist and nutritionist on her challenging relationship with food, but now the situation has made her reevaluate that. “This does not give a safe feeling,” she says. “This feels more isolating.”

Luckily, TikTokers — who are always ready to fight for small justice against unsatisfactory food products — rallied to Engel’s support, with creators making comments like, “Not Kraft messing with you” and “No way, they just responded Like this.” Others called on Engel to open the boxes directly in the store so she could prove her point, or to check the ‘batch’ number of the boxes to see if they match – hence why they might all be missing a packet of cheese .

Now, however, Kraft has seemingly changed his tune. The company responded to the tragedy and seems to resolve it directly with Engel. In a statement to Yahoo Life, a Kraft spokesperson said: “Our team has been in contact with Abby to apologize for her experience and to make things right. We are working closely with our response teams to ensure that all future inquiries are treated with the care and respect they deserve. Our Quality Assurance team is also diligently investigating the production issue to determine the cause and resolve it.”

And in a TikTok post made Friday, Engel confirmed that Kraft — or more accurately, an executive named Larry — reached out to her to apologize for the problem and work on a solution, noting that she was told that they were conducting an internal investigation.

“I don’t want to stop buying Kraft, I don’t want to,” Engel said, noting that Larry also confirmed that they will investigate how Kraft’s social media team responded to her post in the first place.

While the mystery of the missing cheese sauce remains, Engel reported receiving love from other brands. Both Stouffer’s and California Pizza Kitchen sent her gluten-free products as a boost. But as Engel said, she has no interest in quitting Kraft Mac & Cheese. Let’s hope she gets her cheddar soon – or at least whatever is in those unfortunately delicious cheese sauce mixes.