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Warning this is gross, you can imagine how gross it is from the title
First if all, I know this sounds like a case of someone sneaking a foreign object into food and claiming it was there all along, but I’ve been reading this thread and am convinced. Jensen Karp is a writer, comedian and podcaster who is married to Danielle Fishel, the actress who played Topanga on Boy Meets World. He found shrimp tails and what looks like rat poop baked into the cereal in a box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch he bought at a Costco. Yes he ate some before he noticed it. He tweeted the photo below and shared screenshots of the way the company’s social media person, and their official email account completely screwed up their response to him.
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
Also, many of the squares have black marks, and some are dyed red? And yes, I ate a bowl before noticing all this. pic.twitter.com/Y9WWmsTznP
— Jensen Karp (@JensenKarp) March 22, 2021
Stuff like this is all at the bottom of the bag, and what appears to be cooked ONTO some squares. Please be nice with your guesses l, because I will walk into traffic if I ate what I think it is… pic.twitter.com/Zs7ZDygTxA
— Jensen Karp (@JensenKarp) March 23, 2021
At first the Cinnamon Toast Crunch social media person dismissed it, telling him it was sugar clumps.
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
My point is – their initial reaction to shellfish being in the bag was to tell me it was sugar. Not to investigate the issue or look into it. It’s a deadly allergy to many (and non-Kosher) and that didn’t seem to matter beyond offering me a new box.
— Jensen Karp (@JensenKarp) March 23, 2021
They then told him he could send the pieces to them for analysis in an envelope, which they changed to having FedEx pick it up. They also claimed to have left him a message, which they did not.
I plan on continuing full transparency for those concerned about their products. This is the first I’ve heard from them since yesterday (when they said they were sending an envelope) and my new response. pic.twitter.com/EYugRvLbtC
— Jensen Karp (@JensenKarp) March 23, 2021
After that they told him to go to the police, which is so ridiculous!
I can’t believe this in a real life, publicly traded company. pic.twitter.com/v5fAz2SSyM
— Jensen Karp (@JensenKarp) March 23, 2021
Because of how much General Mills screwed up their response, he decided to bring the box to a lab for testing.
They also are paying for this to be done, which is helpful when a corporation is telling the internet I actually found wads of sugar. So basically, my shrimp got a scholarship.
— Jensen Karp (@JensenKarp) March 24, 2021
We’re going to a lab pic.twitter.com/utlWpU1k4I
— Jensen Karp (@JensenKarp) March 23, 2021
As of publication, he is still waiting for results but what else could it be?
What if his kid ate this? It’s one thing if I ate it, but I would be livid if my child ate this! (He still eats stuff off the floor, but still.) What if someone who was allergic to fish ate this? I hate to imagine the scenarios where half eaten shrimp and rat droppings end up baked into a cereal, but they are not good and are making me rethink my consumption of just about all packaged food. I watch a lot of How It’s Made and some of the vats in those factories are huge. Hopefully this is just a one off but I bet it points to a problem at a specific place. General Mills has a huge PR problem now that they handled this so poorly.
Also, if you saw my response to this thread it’s a line and gif from Shark Tales! I know hardly anyone remembers that movie but my kid used to watch it a lot.
But is it accumulated sugar, you doofs? https://t.co/mIJesHsNDm
— Jensen Karp (@JensenKarp) March 23, 2021
I can’t believe this is all factually correct. https://t.co/imBd8Ts62c
— Jensen Karp (@JensenKarp) March 24, 2021
If you get paid to tweet stuff like “Oatmeal is bae” and “tfw you drink our lemonade” – let them handle the stuff above your pay grade. This isn’t what you were hired for. They have entire PR teams and crisis management groups. You’re good at memes and this isn’t fair to you.
— Jensen Karp (@JensenKarp) March 24, 2021
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