A California man says his favorite cereal is ruined for him after he found shrimp tails in his box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch.
Jensen Karp, a comedian who happens to be married to “Boy Meets World” star Danielle Fishel, stirred up the internet this week when he posted photos of the apparent shrimp tails on Twitter, asking the cereal’s page what the deal was.
Ummmm @CTCSquares - why are there shrimp tails in my cereal? (This is not a bit) pic.twitter.com/tTjiAdrnVp
— Jensen Karp (@JensenKarp) March 22, 2021
Initially, the cereal brand responded with an apology, saying it would like to report the issue to its quality control team and to replace the box.
Karp responded, saying he wasn’t he ready for another box.
The back and forth continued when the cereal brand said it understood Karp’s concern and asked for further details to make things right.
Karp went on to send the brand more information and the company then claimed the apparent object “appears to be an accumulation of the cinnamon sugar that sometimes can occur when ingredients aren’t thoroughly blended.” They also said “there’s no possibility of cross contamination with shrimp."
Karp then accused the brand of trying to gaslight him, saying “after further investigation with my eyes, these are cinnamon coated SHRIMP TAILS, you weirdos.”
Ok, we’ll after further investigation with my eyes, these are cinnamon coated SHRIMP TAILS, you weirdos. I wasn’t all that mad until you now tried to gaslight me? https://t.co/7DmADmoqUt pic.twitter.com/rSLE60pvoy
— Jensen Karp (@JensenKarp) March 22, 2021
Now, the brand is advising him to call the police. Karp told CNN that the brand emailed him, saying that if he’s unwilling to send the items and cereal packaging to them, they asked him to provide the items to his local law enforcement.
As if the apparent shrimp tails weren’t enough, Karp also told CNN that he later found something black in the pieces of cereal that he was eating and in another box of the cereal, he spotted what looks like dental floss. He also said it's possible the second package was taped shut on the bottom, but he couldn’t really tell.
Because he ate some of the cereal at first, Karp told The New York Times that he’s “trying to get tested,” because he fears the black pieces could be rat feces and he doesn’t want to get sick. He also told the newspaper that he’s medicated for OCD, so the situation is a “total nightmare” for him.
General Mills, the owner of Cinnamon Toast Crunch, has issued a statement, again saying the items didn’t get into the boxes at their facility.
“While we are still investigating this matter, we can say with confidence that this did not occur at our facility. 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 at 1-800-328-1144.”
Karp told The Times that he’s leery of sending the contents of the cereal boxes to General Mills and that he’s “definitely holding on to one of them.”