COVINGTON, Ga. — General Mills officials said they were checking recent claims of shellfish parts found in one of their cereals but are confident they did not come from any of their production facilities — including Covington.

The company expanded its Cinnamon Toast Crunch production operations at its Covington plant in October and announced 40 new jobs as part of the effort.

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

USA Today reported that writer and comedian Jensen Karp said on Twitter that he believed his box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch contained a few shrimp tails. 

His post went viral, and had been retweeted more than 25,000 times as of Friday morning with some sharing stories of what they have found in products over the years.

General Mills responded to Karp's tweets that it appeared to be an accumulation of cinnamon sugar and that there was no possibility of cross-contamination with shrimp.

Karp tweeted Wednesday that he was waiting for the envelope from General Mills to arrive in order to send them back pieces.

Company CEO Jeff Harmening told CNBC the company takes food safety very seriously following Karp’s claim.

“It is amazing the amount of news coverage that this story has generated. I must admit that some of it is kind of humorous, but what I want you to know and your viewers to know is that we take food safety very seriously at General Mills,” Harmening said.

General Mills first opened the Covington Plant at 15200 Industrial Park Blvd. NE in 1989. It employs about 400 and is responsible for producing several varieties of cereal and snack products.