Ahh, fall. It’s the return of sweater weather, Halloween candy, and unfortunately, pumpkin spice everything. Now, before you threaten to take away my basic card, hear me out.

There are some things featuring pumpkin that are fantastic. For instance, I love pumpkin muffins from Panera on a crisp fall morning. Although I personally don’t like pumpkin spice lattes from Starbucks, I see why others enjoy them, especially now that they have actual pumpkin in them.

Pumpkin being featured in baked goods and a coffee drink or a candle is all fine and well. However, we have crossed the line from a nice fall feature to obsessive. At every turn in the grocery store, you can find something featuring pumpkin spice.

On my weekly Kroger trip, I found some pretty disturbing things all containing the iconic fall spice. Things like sausage, hummus, and spiced nuts have no business containing pumpkin spice. It’s gross and, honestly, very unappetizing. Who in their right mind wants to sit down at the dinner table and hear, “we’re having pumpkin spice sausages for dinner”? I would estimate the number to be about -100. What’s even worse than that? People are actually trying to add it to things like BBQ sauce, Pringles, and BEER.

Pumpkin spice beer? Gross. I can’t even.

It’s clear to me that America needs a wake-up call. Pumpkin spice does not need to be shoved into every single food item available for purchase. It’s simply gone too far! Leave our meats, beer, BBQ sauce, and savory snack alone and stick with what you know best.

Fall is a fabulous season, and all this pumpkin spice madness is just giving me anxiety! Every time I walk into the store, there’s something new. It's time to end the pumpkin spice madness before someone gets hurt or pumpkins go extinct!