Ignore rumour of contaminated canned food — Dr Zulkifli

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KUCHING: The state Health Department has advised consumers not to panic over the rumour spreading around that canned food manufactured in Thailand were contaminated.

Its director Datu Dr Zulkifli Jantan confirmed that so far his office had not received any information or alert from the Ministry of Health over the matter.

“Therefore, consumers should not panic over the rumour. If there is anything, we will inform the public immediately,” he said when contacted yesterday.

Dr Zulkifli was asked whether there was any instruction from the Ministry of Health to ban canned food from Thailand, following a so-called ‘emergency notification’ spreading around through the short-messaging-service (SMS) reminding the public not to consume canned food, especially canned fruits manufactured in that country.

The message claimed that over 200 Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) carriers in Thailand were instructed by their leader to contaminate the products with their blood.

It further claimed that the information was confirmed by the Thailand government.

The message stated that to prevent people from getting infected, many types of canned food such as longan, lychee, rambutan and mango pudding had been removed from the shelves of supermarkets.

Dr Zulkifli said the standard practice by the state Health Department was to take suspected products off the shelves of supermarkets and other outlets while waiting for instruction from the Ministry of Health on further action.