# where do cereal crumbs come from? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 24, 2015, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-cereal-crumbs-come-from/715852 "2015-03-24T13:24:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/channing_idaho_banks/32/250_2.png) [@Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Channing_Idaho_Banks)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2015, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-cereal-crumbs-come-from/715852/21 "2015-03-25T04:36:37Z")
I agree with the suspicions of the OP. Adding cereal crumbs during the packaging process would be a great way to get rid of waste and extend the amount of packages created. Any factory manager would see this opportunity. Plus, who doesn’t like a little cheerio dust in their cereal? ---
**Author:** ![PurpleClogs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f04885/32.png) [@PurpleClogs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PurpleClogs)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2015, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-cereal-crumbs-come-from/715852/22 "2015-03-25T06:33:25Z")
Keeping the crumbs in there adds to the weight, hence less premium flakes they have to include. Cost effective. Sprinkle it on ice cream! ---
**Author:** ![Orville\_mogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/aeb1de/32.png) [@Orville\_mogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orville_mogul)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2015, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-cereal-crumbs-come-from/715852/23 "2015-03-25T07:51:53Z")
> [@Dallas\_Jones](#): > > At the feed manufacturer I once worked at I used to buy cereal tailings by the bulk truck load. You could identify the type of cereal from the look of the tailings, sometimes Cheerios, Fruit Loops, etc. You give Froot Loops to animals? :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2015, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-cereal-crumbs-come-from/715852/24 "2015-03-25T16:39:37Z")
> [@Orville\_mogul](#): > > You give Froot Loops to animals? :eek: Well, they’re not fit for humans, are they? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2015, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-cereal-crumbs-come-from/715852/25 "2015-03-25T18:19:22Z")
> [@Orville\_mogul](#): > > You give Froot Loops to animals? :eek: The cereal tailings are just an ingredient in the feed formula, a small percentage. The tailings don’t really add much protein or nutrition, just, carbs, starch and sugar. Cheerios were by far the most common because they are one of the most popular cereals. We were adding them to pelleted fish feed for salmon and trout hatcheries. If we had quality issues forming the pellets a % boost in the cereal tailings really helped bind it together. Think about that if you are experiencing extrusion issues of your own. 😉 The total amount allowed was controlled by minimums and maximums within the feed formulation program, known as Brill. These parameters were set by the nutritionist. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2015, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-cereal-crumbs-come-from/715852/26 "2015-03-25T18:45:13Z")
> [@Orville\_mogul](#): > > I just tried an experiment. I put a good quantity of bran flakes, crumb-free, into a ziploc bag and shook them around for about 30 seconds. When I looked in the bag there were some flake fragments, but not that much, and definitely nothing that would qualify as crumbs. Not a terribly scientific study I admit, but I still find it a bit hard to imagine such a large quantity of fine crumbs being generated by anything short of a centrifuge… Consider that your experiment was performed using flakes from which loose or semi-loose crumbs had already been dislodged. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2017, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-cereal-crumbs-come-from/715852/28 "2017-09-15T22:04:21Z")
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