This Disgusting TikTok Has People Swearing Off Cereal Forever

TikTok videos go viral for a lot of reasons: Cool dance moves, catchy sea shanties, surprising food trends, adorable cats/puppies/babies. And sometimes TikToks go viral because they literally make your skin crawl. That's what happened with this TikTok user's video, when he brought viewers along to investigate the source of strange sounds he says he heard coming from his kitchen cabinet.

In the video, user @mbutler20014 is seen pulling a box of Kellogg's Frosted Mini Wheats cereal from a shelf, saying that they'd just purchased it and after getting it home kept hearing weird noises. The box looks unopened, as does the bag of cereal that the TikToker pulls out of it. "Oh yeah buddy," they exclaim when, after turning the bag over a few times, the source of the mysterious sound is revealed: mealworms. The yellowish-brown worms look to be two to three inches long, and are writhing through the pieces of cereal in the bag. The user says there are around 13 worms that he can see, and notes, "you can't make this sh** up." But some viewers wonder if the TikToker actually did.

With nearly 90,000 views and mainstream media outlets sharing the story, clearly the thought of finding a box of cereal crawling with mealworms is nightmare fuel for many people. Some TikTok users tried to find the humor in it, with one user commenting, "Prizes in cereal are not what they use [to] be," but others weren't amused. A TikTok user wrote, "Eww. I will never eat any of these again. None of the brands are safe," and others seemed to agree. There were also many skeptics who, after watching the video from @mbutler20014, questioned whether the video was a stunt, asking how the worms could've survived in an airtight bag, and how anyone could have heard the tiny noises coming from deep inside their cabinet. A viewer of the TikTok video noted ominously that if consumers create fake claims against companies, they can "get in trouble."

For now at least, Kellogg's is giving @mbutler20014 the benefit of the doubt. Kellogg's acknowledged to Today that the incident must have been "upsetting," and said that even with strict quality checks, at times bugs do manage to "penetrate properly sealed packages as products leave our control." They also said they've contacted the TikToker, but have not yet heard back. Though some TikTok users mentioned a current class action lawsuit against Kellogg's, that case has nothing to do with infested cereal. It will definitely be interesting to learn more about what happened, and if we can trust our boxed cereals to contain only cereal.