MAN SAYS HE FOUND SHRIMP TAILS IN CEREAL

Cereal is a staple of the American breakfast table, consumed by millions of people every day and tied, for many, with memories of childhood. So when a story began circulating last week about a disturbing discovery in a box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch, consumers were horrified.

None more so than Jensen Karp. On Monday morning, he ate a bowl of his favorite cinnamon sugar-striped cereal. As he began filling a second bowl, “something plopped out of the box,” he said in an interview. “I picked it up, and I was like, ‘This is clearly a shrimp tail.’ ”

He looked in the bag and saw what appeared to be another tail. Both were encrusted with sugar. “I get really grossed out, and I’m medicated for OCD, so this is a total nightmare for me,” he said.

Karp, a 41-year-old comedian and writer in Los Angeles, took a picture of the contents and sent it to his wife, Danielle Fishel Karp, who played Topanga Lawrence-matthews on “Boy Meets World.”

Then he sent a form submission email to General Mills, which began selling Cinnamon Toast Crunch in 1984, documenting what he’d found. Soon after, he posted a picture of the items on Twitter. Eventually, Cinnamon Toast Crunch reached out to Karp through its brand Twitter account.

“Privately, they were still being very nice,” he said, offering to send a replacement box, which he politely declined. Then the brand issued a public statement on Twitter.

“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 from Cinnamon Toast Crunch read. “We assure you that there’s no possibility of cross contamination with shrimp.”

That didn’t sit well with Karp, and he responded with frustration.

When his tweet started getting attention, a friend called and suggested that he re-examine the bag of cereal. “I had never even thought about going back into the bag,” he said. “Never even crossed my mind.”

After looking again, he now wishes he hadn’t. In addition to a few objects that Karp described as “shrimp skinslooking things,” “a small string” and something that looked like a pistachio — all encrusted in sugar — he noticed a “small black piece” on some of the squares and at bottom of the bag.

These, he feared, could be rat feces. “That’s what I’m trying to get tested right now, because that’s the only thing that really matters to me as far as if I can get sick,” he said. On Monday night, he called the California Poison Control System, which suggested that he take a sample to a lab.

He had bought a “two pack” of Cinnamon Toast Crunch, a large box containing two bags. On the other bag of cereal, he noticed what appeared to be clear tape along the bottom, leading him to believe the boxes might have been tampered with.

Karp is aware that Twitter has often been used by comedians to stage viral hoaxes. But he swears his shrimp saga is no tall tale.

“I’m a comedy writer, but like, there’s no joke here,” he said.