Man says he found shrimp tails in his box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch - but General Mills says they're just an 'accumulation of the cinnamon sugar'

• Jensen Karp said he found two shrimp tails inside a box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal on Monday.
• The brand initially said they weren't tails but rather "an accumulation of the cinnamon sugar."
• General Mills told Insider an investigation was launched into the incident.

Jensen Karp said he found shrimp tails inside a box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch, leading General Mills, which owns the cereal brand, to announce an investigation.

On Monday, the comedian caused a social-media furor when he tweeted a picture of his Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal and tagged the brand's official social-media account.

"Ummmm @CTCSquares - why are there shrimp tails in my cereal? (This is not a bit)," Karp, who is married to the "Boy Meets World" star Danielle Fishel, wrote. The photo, which has more than 75,000 likes, appeared to show two shrimp tails coated in cinnamon sugar mixed in with the cereal next to the open cereal bag.

Cinnamon Toast Crunch's official Twitter account responded an hour later, saying it would report the claim to the company's quality team, and it later asked Karp to send the items to the company in an envelope so the company could "take a closer look." The brand addressed the allegation after an initial investigation in a tweet reply.

"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," the statement said.

It added: "We assure you that there's no possibility of cross contamination with shrimp."

Karp responded with two additional photos that showed a close-up look at the items in question.

"After further investigation with my eyes, these are cinnamon coated SHRIMP TAILS, you weirdos," he wrote. "I wasn't all that mad until you now tried to gaslight me?"

Karp then shared several more tweets that chronicled his Cinnamon Toast Crunch saga, including photos that appeared to show black specs cooked into the cereal. He also claimed to have found a piece of string among the cereal box.

"UPDATE: my wife has a stronger stomach than me and checked the OTHER bag in the family pack. This one seems taped up (?) and also appears to include...(I don't even want to say it)...dental floss," Karp wrote.

Karp said that the black specs would be lab tested and that he went back to Costco to ask the store about the items.

In the most recent update on Tuesday, Karp shared screenshots sent to him via direct message from the Cinnamon Toast Crunch Twitter account. He said it was the first time the brand had reached out to him since it asked him to send the suspected shrimp tails for evaluation.

"I won't be giving you the stuff," Karp said, adding: "Again, your tweet calling it sugar was super weird and the fact that you haven't said anything to the contrary doesn't allow me to trust you with it at all."

In a statement sent to Insider via email, General Mills said it was investigating the matter and denied that the incident happened at a company facility.

"While we are still investigating this matter, we can say with confidence that this did not occur at our facility," Mike Siemienas, a General Mills representative, said in the statement. "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."

Karp told Insider he wanted General Mills to investigate the incident in the interest of people with food allergies.

"I just want General Mills to admit it's shrimp tails (and other weird stuff) and then investigate it so others (maybe with shellfish allergies) don't have the same result," Karp said.

People on Twitter weighed in after the photos went viral

As Karp and General Mills' exchange unfolded online, Twitter users (both famous and not) couldn't help cracking jokes and speculating over the mystery.

"Daily affirmation," the actor and comedian Patton Oswalt wrote. "Don't let the shrimp tails of doubt ruin the Cinnamon Toast Crunch of your purpose."

Another user joked: "Krispy Kreme is giving out free donuts to anybody who's gotten vaccinated. Not to be outdone, Cinnamon Toast Crunch is giving out free shrimp tails."

The official "Walking Dead" Twitter account said it was "THRILLED to announce that Cinnamon Toast Crunch Shrimp will be the next villain group."

Many Twitter users shared pictures of meals like shrimp fried rice and joked it was actually Cinnamon Toast Crunch. One person used a doctored image of a Golden Oreo with a shrimp in the middle, writing: "New Cinnamon Toast Crunch Oreo just dropped."

Karp acknowledged the photos' popularity, writing: "I'm the new Gorilla Glue Girl, aren't I?"