General Mills CEO Jeff Harmening said the company takes food safety very seriously after the customer claimed it found shrimp tails viral in its Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal.
“It’s amazing the amount of news this story has generated. I have to admit that some of the things are funny, but what I want viewers to know and know is that we take food safety very seriously at General Mills,” he said. Harmening told CNBC’s Sara Eisen on “Closing Bell.”
TV writer and podcast presenter Jensen Karp tweeted Monday that he found several shrimp tails in a General Mills cereal box.
Karp also claimed that the other box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch he bought appeared to include floss and was engraved on the bottom.
“Based on the information we have right now, it’s very unlikely that this will happen at a General Mills facility,” Harmening said.
Harmening added that General Mills is working with Karp, although the relationship appears to be based on Karp’s tweets. Karp tweeted Wednesday before waiting for the General Mills envelope to arrive to send them pieces.
Karp told Yahoo Entertainment he wants General Mills to take cereal off the shelves to protect consumers who may have seafood allergies or stay kosher.
Cereal sales received an unexpected increase during the last year of the coronavirus pandemic after years of stagnant growth. Consumers working remotely have returned to old favorites, such as Cinnamon Toast Crunch or Cheerios. Earlier Wednesday, General Mills reported U.S. grain sales rose 9% in its most recent quarter.
The company’s shares fell 4% in the afternoon trading after falling short of Wall Street expectations about its third-quarter tax profits. Shares have risen 21% over the past year, giving it a market value of $ 35.9 billion. In addition to their growth in the grain business during the pandemic, consumers have also been using more of their bakery products and buying more of their Blue Buffalo pet food.