HIV-TAINTED CANNED FOOD ‘IMPOSSIBLE’
>> Rumours that canned food, particularly canned fruit, manufactured in Thailand was contaminated with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) have been dismissed.
In response to the rumours circulated via text messages, the Department of Disease Control (DDC) said it was theoretically impossible.
“The rumours are absolutely fabricated,” said Dr Panumard Yarnwaidsakul, deputy director-general of the DDC, during an interview last week.
“HIV is killed in water boiled at 56 degrees Celsius within 30 minutes. But it only takes 10 minutes to kill the virus at 100 degrees Celsius,” Dr Panumard explained. “Detergent or liquid bleach can also kill the virus. HIV itself also cannot live outside the human body.”
In fact, the canned food production process includes heat treatment which eliminates all harmful microbes and other viruses, said Dr Panumard.
Even though contaminated food is one of the main causes of illness among many people, there is no scientific proof that people can become HIV-positive by consuming food.
Dr Panumard said the worst thing that people can get from food is bacteria, parasites or protozoa, which can cause food poisoning or diarrhoea, especially from canned food that has passed its expiry date or had its container damaged.
Picking up HIV in this manner is therefore impossible.
“There are only three possible ways that people can catch HIV: sexual intercourse, using infected needles, especially among drug users, and mother-to-child transmission,” Dr Panumard explained.
“Susceptibility to the virus also depends on the amount of HIV in bodily fluid. If it is not sufficient, then it can’t infect others. If the HIV can get through the mucous membranes, then it can infect other people. Blood transfusion is another way to get the virus,” he added.
According to related authorities including the Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives and the Food and Drug Administration, the manufacturing process of canned products in Thailand has been thoroughly inspected and certified according to international standards including Good Manufacturing Practice and the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point system.
In addition, HIV needs a human host cell to live and it cannot live long outside the human body. Therefore, canned products cannot cause HIV infection in humans.
The department also issued the press release in English to dispel the fake news that re-emerged late last year after it had appeared on social media regularly in 2013 and 2014.