AN old hoax message is doing the rounds again.
The message reads: “URGENT NEWS. There’s news from the police. It’s an urgent message for all. For next few days don’t drink any product from Pepsi companies like Pepsi, Tropicana juice, Slice, 7Up etc. A worker from the company has added his blood contaminated with AIDS. Watch NDTV. Please forward this to everyone on your list.”
A quick visit to the Snopes.com website reveals that this is a fake warning which has been circulating via email since 2011, adding that ‘no news accounts, government agencies, or other reliable sources have reported Pepsi or Frooti products being contaminated with HIV-infected blood’.
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And in fact, a report from the Centres for Disease Control in the USA categorically states that the HIV/Aids virus cannot be transmitted by food.
“No incident of food being contaminated with HIV-infected blood or semen has been reported to CDC. Furthermore, CDC has received no reports of HIV infection resulting from eating food, including condiments. HIV does not live long outside the body. Even if small amounts of HIV-infected blood or semen were consumed, exposure to the air, heat from cooking, and stomach acid would destroy the virus. Therefore, there is no risk of contracting HIV from eating food.” reads a statement on the website.
So before you panic or forward this or other messages which could possibly be hoaxes, check them out at Snopes.com
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