Fake news of ‘killer worms’ in bananas travels across continents to Malaysia – The Star Online

KUALA LUMPUR: Fake news of "killer worms" in bananas has travelled across several continents and caused a stir, especially among chat groups and social media accounts of Malaysian Internet users.

A one-minute 29-second video has been circulating, claiming that bananas in Malaysia contain helicobacter, a microaerophilic, spiral bacterium usually found in the stomach.

It claims that the worms will cause "brain death" within 12 hours of consuming them.

The video shows a person breaking a banana open and using a pair of tweezers to pull out a worm coiled within the fruit.

Malaysia is not the first country to experience the spread of this fake news as the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development (DALRRD) in South Africa also rubbished similar claims.

Fake news of imported bananas from Somalia containing the worms were spread in the nation.

The department, in a statement on Nov 8 said that all imported bananas were carefully examined by inspectors at ports of entry to ensure there were no quarantine pests, food-borne diseases or any other harmful foreign material that could negatively affect the agricultural environment, industry and consumers, in particular.

A similar video using the same footage went viral in the United Arab Emirates and the Abu Dhabi Agriculture and Food Safety Authority also debunked the video.

It was previously reported that the Agriculture Department had not received any reports of helicobacter "worms" attacking banana crops in Malaysia, said its director-general Datuk Zahimi Hassan.

He was quoted as saying the viral video on the alleged discovery of helicobacter worms in bananas contained unauthentic and dubious information.

Zahimi explained that helicobacter is a type of bacteria and not an invertebrate animal.

"Consumers do not have to worry as the Agriculture and Food Industries Ministry, through the Agriculture Department, always ensures that agriculture produce and products from the local or foreign sources are safe for consumption and free from pests and diseases that harm consumers and the environment," he said in a statement.

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Fake news of 'killer worms' in bananas travels across continents to Malaysia - The Star Online