Why Have People Been Finding Disturbing Things in Their Cereal?

Cereal is supposed to be a safe space. Pour out your favorite cereal with your preferred milk, and you know what you're getting, right? Wrong, apparently. According to a recent BuzzFeed News report, various disturbing cases of random objects being found in cereal have been reported, and they're definitely not little nuggets of sugar or an old-fashioned prize.

While the US Food and Drug Administration can't vouch for every incident, and that there are enough objects found in food that there's a permissible level of human error, people have been reportedly finding various objects that are nasty, disturbing, and even dangerous when they pour out their morning bowl.

Several people have found "pills" or "tablets" in their cereal over the past few years, with one finding "a total of four tablets" in his Honey Nut Cheerios. Another woman cut her mouth on a screw found in her Honey Nut Cheerios (is this a pattern?), while one person cut their gums on white glass found in Special K Nourish cereal.

While less dangerous, there have been equally disturbing objects from ~nature~ found in breakfast cereal, reports BuzzFeed. Some have found wood chips and rodent droppings, with one family finding rodent bones in their Chex Mix Indulgent Turtle Snack Mix that caused diarrhea and vomiting. A person eating Millville cereal found "an object believed to be a cooked mouse" in her cereal box that resembled "jerky/cooked mouse." Others have opened new boxes to find ants, spider webs, and termites.

General Mills, the maker of Cheerios, Wheaties, Lucky Charms, Chex, and various other brands, told BuzzFeed that these complaints “can’t be considered ‘weird things that can end up in cereal’ without each complaint being verified for their accuracy.”

“When consumers contact us with concerns, that data is collected, tracked and investigated,” General Mills said in the statement. “We even do tests on the returned product consumers notify us about.”

General Mills highlighted that many complaints “turn out to be unsubstantiated or from some other source in the consumers [sic] home.” It’s certainly possible, for example, that someone accidentally dropped their morning medication into their bowl, or that a piece of glass had shattered in their cabinet and ended up in their cereal bowl before the cereal had even been poured.

Either way... maybe check your cereal before pouring your milk just in case.