The Viral Case Of A Shrimp-Infested Cereal, By An American Comedy Writer

Cereals are very popular in Western countries, as they are often eaten as part of a balanced breakfast or a snack food. They can be eaten with milk, yoghurt or plain, and many companies promoting their cereal products as healthy food.

And Cinnamon Toast Crunch is one of the many.

Also known as Croque-Cannelle in French Canada, Curiously Cinnamon in the UK and among other names, the brand of the breakfast cereal is produced by General Mills and Nestlé. Known for its taste of cinnamon toast, the cereal comes in the format of small squares or rectangles of wheat and rice covered with cinnamon and sugar.

And this time, TV writer Jensen Karp experienced an unappetizing cereal surprise when he opened a box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch, one day for breakfast.

He tweeted that he found shrimp tails and other non-cereal tidbits. And to make matters worse, Karp said that he found the foreign objects after he had already eaten a bowl of it.

This made the case viral on Twitter.

Following Karp's complaint in public, Cinnamon Toast Crunch responded through its verified account on Twitter, saying that it believes the shrimp tails were just "an accumulation of the cinnamon sugar" and that contamination with shrimp wasn't possible.

This angered Karp.

In his next tweet, Karp that is also a producer, podcast host, art gallery owner, actor, radio personality and a former rapper, took a closer and clearer pictures to show how that "sugar" has tails.

He later posted more pictures, with even more things he found inside the bag.

Knowing that things like those shouldn't ever be inside cereal bags, social media users said that more things could be inside, and some can even be more unappetizing.

Netizens suggested that the bag may also contain invisible foreign objects, or more dangerous bits, like rodent droppings, for example.

Karp said that he plans to continue this case to "full transparency for those concerned about their products."

Karp also called his local poison control and planned to go for testing, although he clarified that he felt fine.

In another tweet, he also shared that he took the cereal for testing.

"People are like, ‘It could be a prank,'" the comedy writer said. "Listen, it’s not a prank. It would be a very weird prank for me to cook items onto my Cinnamon Toast Crunch and also have them create the dumbest response in corporate history."

Karp added that he hopes the company can remove the cereal from shelves.

"While we are still investigating this matter, we can say with confidence that this did not occur at our facility," said Mike Siemienas, a spokesman for General Mills. "We are waiting for the consumer to send us the package to investigate further. Any consumers who notice their cereal box or bag has been tampered with, such as the clear tape that was found in this case, should contact us."