HIV-infected blood being injected into bananas? Don't fall for this hoax
Messages being forwarded and circulated online claim that blood infected with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) is being deliberately injected into fruits, particularly bananas.
A Stomper shared with Stomp one such message that had he received and asked us to "verify this" and "alert the public".
There is nothing to alert, however, except for the fact this is an old hoax that has resurfaced online and is causing undue panic.
The hoax has existed from as far back as in 2015, when a mother in Colorado, USA, shared Facebook photos showing red spots in her son's banana in a Nov 7 post.
According to The Washington Post, someone else named Anna Aquavia then reposted the pictures to her own Facebook page on Nov 9, with false details about the blood (why would anyone do this? WHY?!)
Anna had written: "Someone is injecting blood into bananas. The hospital tested the bananas and it is indeed blood."
However, the discolouration on the spotty bananas is actually just a type of deformity caused by bacteria.
This stems from a natural condition known as mokillo, which happens when a common bacteria enter the fruit and causes its centre to turn dark red.
More importantly, there are no health risks to people who have eaten these 'red bananas' i.e. you will not be infected with HIV or AIDS.
Snopes.com, a website known for validating and debunking stories as well as urban legends of question origin, has also explained this scientific phenomenon:
Lastly, it is nearly impossible for HIV to be transmitted via food.
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