Social media is a useful tool when in right hands. But it can be lethal as when it takes the form of a mean of propagation of hoaxes. Internet hoaxes are not new things for us. Ever since the smartphone era kickstarted, we’ve been subjected to a gazillion internet hoaxes ranging from Ganesh idols drinking milk to a witch asking for onions. A silly hoax is now claiming that Anchor butter products and Cadbury chocolates are infected with HIV virus. The fake news is being circulated on social media like a wildfire.
The message claims that BBC has already warned people not to eat any Anchor butter products for a few months. A man has allegedly added HIV-infection blood to its production unit in Westbury Dairy, UK. This fake news has been doing rounds on Facebook and WhatsApp.
However, Hoax Slayer has busted this hoax and assured that Anchor butter products are completely safe for consumption. The picture was circulating the message was taken from an Arabic language news report dating back to 2015.
Arla foods that distribute Anchor butter products in the UK also shunned the news while responding to the query.
A similar hoax message warned people not to eat Cadbury chocolates for a few weeks claiming that a Cadbury worker has contaminated the products with HIV infected blood. According to CDC, HIV won’t transmit through food handled by HIV infected persons.
"You can't get HIV from consuming food handled by an HIV-infected person. Even if the food contained small amounts of HIV-infected blood or semen, exposure to the air, heat from cooking, and stomach acid would destroy the virus," wrote CDC in a statement.
