General Mills CEO Jeff Harmening said the company takes food safety very seriously after a customer’s claim that he found shrimp tails in his Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal went viral.
“It’s amazing how much news coverage this story has generated. I must admit that some of them are kind of humorous, but what I want you to know and your viewers to know is that we take food security very seriously at General Mills,” Harmening told CNBC’s Sara Eisen on “Closing Bell”.
TV writer and podcast host Jensen Karp tweeted on Monday that he found several shrimp tails in a box of General Mills cereal.
Karp also said that the other box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch he bought seemed to include dental floss and was glued to the bottom.
“Based on the information we have now, it is highly unlikely that this occurred at a General Mills facility,” said Harmening.
Harmening added that General Mills is working with Karp, although the relationship appears to be contentious based on Karp’s tweets. Karp tweeted on Wednesday that he is waiting for the General Mills envelope to arrive to send them back.
Karp told Yahoo Entertainment that he wants General Mills to remove the cereal from the shelves to protect consumers who may be allergic to seafood or keep it kosher.
Cereal sales have seen an unexpected increase in the past year due to the coronavirus pandemic, after years of stagnant growth. Consumers who work remotely have returned to old favorites, like Cinnamon Toast Crunch or Cheerios. Earlier on Wednesday, General Mills reported that US cereal sales increased 9% in their most recent quarter.
The company’s shares fell 4% in the afternoon, after falling short of Wall Street’s expectations for fiscal third-quarter earnings. The shares rose 21% in the last year, giving them a market value of $ 35.9 billion. In addition to its expanding cereal business during the pandemic, consumers have also been using more baked goods and buying more Blue Buffalo pet food.