An unhealthy lie: Claims of HIV infected bananas in SA stores are untrue

The National Department of Health says there is no truth to a statement circulating on social media‚ in particular whattsapp‚ attributed to the Ministry of Health‚ supposedly advising the South African citizens “not to buy or eat from supermarkets in Durban‚ Johannesburg and Pretoria“.

“The statement is untrue‚ malicious‚ and diabolic. It is designed to cause unnecessary panic to the public.”

The department has traced “the source of this disinformation“.

This is a fake news website‚ which aims for sensationalism rather than fact‚ as evidenced by the headline of the fake article: “Cheap HIV Infected Bananas Flood South African Supermarkets“.

These websites are trying to get readers to click on the stories to make money off advertising‚ without a care that they are misleading their readers.

Before you believe these stories‚ you should check that the publisher is a registered business — with a known authority‚ not an unknown domain address.