General Mills Has Had Shrimp Problems Before
If you haven't heard about the recent drama of Jensen Karp, comedian, writer, producer, and spouse of Danielle Fishel Karp (aka Topanga from Boy Meets World) finding shrimp tails in his box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal...well, you have now.
Long story short, Karp found some very unappetizing items (including shrimp tails, a string, and some dark spots that could be rat feces) mixed in with his cereal, and posted about it online, according to Yahoo! Entertainment. The story blew up on Twitter, particularly after the official Cinnamon Toast Crunch Twitter account responded to the photos Karp posted with this statement: "After further investigation with our team that closely examined the image, it appears to be an accumulation of the cinnamon sugar that sometimes can occur when ingredients aren't thoroughly blended. We assure you that there's no possibility of cross contamination with shrimp" (via Twitter).
Karp took issue with this reply, as did others, however, this isn't even the first time General Mills has dealt with shrimp showing up unexpectedly.
General Mills' first shrimp contamination controversy
Back in 2011, The New York Times reports that General Mills filed a lawsuit against a Michigan-based company after shrimp contaminants were found in blueberries that the company was planning to use for scones. During that incident, the company found just "one shrimp and a shrimp tail on the outside of the cases," which was enough for them to declare the entire shipment tainted and unsuitable for consumption, not to mention sue the company responsible. So, what's the difference this time?
The difference seems to be the uncertainty of just who is responsible for this instance of shrimp contamination. According to Karp, one of the bags of cereal had "what appeared to be clear tape along the bottom, leading him to believe the boxes might have been tampered with." Meanwhile, the Cinnamon Toast Crunch Twitter account continues to deny all accountability for the incident and is "waiting for the consumer to send the package to investigate further," (via Twitter).
Until we find out how this really happened, at least this unsettling news story has given us some great images, like this mocked up version of a Cinnamon Toast Crunch box, advertising "shrimp tail is always the 1st ingredient" (via Twitter).