How to break 20 food and drug rumors？

Image source: People’s Daily

Editor’s note:The official website of china food and drug administration recently released four batches of 20 food and drug rumors. The summary release content includes the rumor content, rumor propagation track, media rumors and the harm of rumors.

The rumors released by the Food and Drug Administration in recent days are closely related to people’s lives, and some rumors are still "undiminished" on the Internet. These rumors cover meat, fruits, beverages, vegetables, cooking oil, tea and other food categories, showing three major characteristics: "Carcinogenesis" has become a common vocabulary for rumor makers to "package" rumors, and chlorine in microwave ovens, milk, Houttuynia cordata Thunb and tap water has been labeled as "Carcinogenic"; In seasonal seasons, watermelons, cucumbers, persimmons, dates and other fruits and vegetables often "lie down" innocently. During the hot season, rumors such as "watermelon injection" and "rootless bean sprouts are poisonous" will resurface; Shrimp, crab, chicken and other meat foods are often spread wildly on the Internet by rumors, and many versions are generated. [detailed]

Top 20 Drug-eating Rumors

1. Pork hookworm "boiled but not rotten":In September, 2013, in Longsheng, Guangxi, a saying that "the hookworm of pork is not rotten in water, not cooked in oil, and can’t be killed at high temperature" went viral on the Internet, and in the following years, a number of rumors of derivatives and variants appeared one after another, involving Guangdong, Jiangsu, Liaoning, Sichuan and other places. [detailed]

2.SB250 virus "72 change":In March 2016, two netizens in Yunnan Province spread rumors on the Internet: "At 2: 21 am yesterday, a woman was infected with SB250 virus (variants including sk5 and H7N9, etc.) and died. The doctor who participated in the rescue was quarantined. It is reported that this woman was sent to the hospital after buying grass carp in the market to eat pickled fish. CCTV news has been broadcast, so don’t eat fish, sauerkraut, especially grass carp for the time being. Since then, various versions of the rumor have been widely spread on social platforms, and the main content is roughly the same, but the time, place and name have been changed. [detailed]

3. White eggs are more nutritious:Before 2005, the saying that "red-skinned eggs are laid by chicken, so red-skinned eggs are more nutritious than white-skinned eggs" was popular in society. In response to this statement, CCTV Health Channel refuted the rumor in a program called "Learning to Eat Eggs" on September 13th, 2006, saying that there is almost no difference in the nutrition of different eggshells after experimental testing. [detailed]

4. Microwave ovens cause cancer:On April 23, 2002, Life Times published a rumor short message "Don’t ignore the harm of microwave ovens", because the few reprints did not form a hot topic of public opinion. On September 17th, 2003, China Youth Daily published a compiled article entitled "Microwave food does more harm than good and is extremely harmful to health", which put forward an extreme view that microwave food is harmful to health and even causes cancer. The title of the author was also exaggerated by translators and reprinted by many media, which triggered public doubts about the safety of microwave heating food. [detailed]

5. Drinking milk can cause cancer;On December 12, 2003, Campbell, an American nutrition professor, put forward the view that cancer cells will be "promoted" by high protein when drinking a lot of milk and taking too much animal protein. On June 3, 2004, Nanfang Daily published a report that a British professor believed that dairy products were a catalyst for human carcinogenesis. In the following years, a large number of articles on foreign research on the harm of milk to human body were widely reprinted in Sina blog, Baidu Post Bar and various community forums, and even spread on websites such as "Biology Valley" and "Health Online". [detailed]

6. Instant noodles are "junk food";Since October, 2003, the "Top Ten Junk Foods in the World (List) published by the World Health Organization" has been reprinted on food websites such as Huaxia Jingwei. com and Bio-Valley, and mainstream portals such as Sohu and Sina, including convenience foods, calling them "containing preservatives and flavors, with only calories but no nutrition". This view confirms the public’s cognition of instant noodles and has been deeply rooted in people’s hearts since then. On September 29th, 2004, "China Food Science and Technology Network" invited relevant professors for the first time to dispel rumors and introduce the nutritional components of instant noodles.[detailed]

7. Injection of watermelon causes poisoning:In the summer of 2016, it was the hot season of watermelon. A message that "as long as there are yellow and white tendons in the melon pulp, it means that this watermelon has been injected" went viral on major social platforms. In fact, this rumor appeared as early as 2012, and it will resurface every hot season of watermelon. [detailed]

8. Persimmon yogurt is eaten with death:Since September 2016, there has been a rumor on the Internet that "there are children’s attention at home: it is the season when persimmons are on the market … A real thing just happened today: a little girl ate persimmons and drank yogurt, and she died of poisoning in less than half an hour!" In fact, this news has no details such as the time, place, and person of the incident. Searching on the Internet with "persimmon+yogurt" as the key word, there has not been any public poisoning or death caused by eating persimmon yogurt recently. [detailed]

9. Straight cucumber sprayed with medicine:"Straight cucumbers are sprayed with medicine, and curved cucumbers are natural." "Cucumbers buy bends, leeks choose short ones." Whenever cucumbers are hot, such statements are madly transmitted on social platforms. In 2016, similar rumors reappeared. Wechat WeChat official account Kangnian published "These things are not delicious food, but poisonous" on September 7, and "Small Horn Promotion Platform" and "Leshan Real Estate Information" also published the same article on September 14 and September 18 respectively. It is understood that the saying that "the straight cucumber was sprayed with medicine" was on the online rumor list in 2015, and well-known media such as the World Wide Web, People’s Daily Online and Xinhuanet have repeatedly rumored it. [detailed]

10. Houttuynia cordata is carcinogenic:On June 12th, "Hippocratic Disciples" published a long microblog "Houttuynia cordata Thunb and Aristolochia Nephropathy", saying that Houttuynia cordata Thunb may induce nephropathy and cause cancer because it contains aristolochialactam, which triggered a heated discussion among netizens. In fact, the statement that Houttuynia cordata induces nephropathy and causes cancer originated from the statement of Fang Zhouzi, a popular science writer, that "eating Houttuynia cordata often leads to renal failure" in 2014. At the 2016 China Food Rumor Forum, the China Food Rumor Alliance released three major food rumors. The online rumor that "Houttuynia cordata will cause kidney disease and kidney cancer" was assessed by experts as not rigorous in logical deduction and prudent in conclusion. [detailed]

11. Poisoned bean sprouts are all poisonous:In 1985, "8503" rootless bean sprout growth regulator was successfully developed and applied on a large scale nationwide. On December 22, 2010, Dahe Daily revealed false news that "rootless auxin used by a bean sprout producer in Zhengzhou is a hormone drug, and five additives can cause cancer". In response to this rumor, on January 25, 2011, the rumor shredder section of "Shell Network" published an article to refute it for the first time. However, in 2011, after two substances in rootless bean sprouts were excluded from the list of food additives by the Ministry of Health and the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, rootless bean sprouts were classified as "poisonous bean sprouts" and began to be inspected everywhere. [detailed]

12. blue crab injection:On July 15, 2016, a video of injecting the blue crab went viral on social platforms. The video shows that an aunt injected unknown liquid into the blue crab with a syringe, and netizens speculated that the injections were carotene, yellow powder, crab paste and urea essence, which triggered widespread public discussion. This online rumor is actually a repeat of the old trick. As early as August 12, 2015, "Sanmen Food Safety Taizhou Market Supervision" released "Blue Crab Injection? ! Not credible! ! ! "The news.[detailed]

13. Food use of contraceptives "storm":On May 12, 2001, Jiangsu Agricultural Science and Technology News refuted the social rumor of using contraceptives to promote the feeding of Monopterus albus. On April 4th, 2004, CCTV’s "Weekly Quality Report" revealed that there were vendors in Nanjing who revealed that Monopterus albus was cultivated with contraceptives. On October 14th of the same year, CCTV Health Channel refuted the rumor. However, during this period, many media have reprinted this untrue news. On June 27, 2007, the column of "Happy Life" of Beijing TV Station revealed that the vegetable seller himself revealed that the liquid medicine sprayed when planting cucumbers was similar in nature to contraceptive pills. On June 15th, 2009, China Food Science and Technology Network determined that the drug sprayed on cucumber was phytohormone. [detailed]

14. Crawfish is used to treat corpses:On September 17, 2003, CCTV Life Channel received a letter from the audience saying that crayfish contained harmful substances and the living environment was dirty, and conducted a special investigation to refute the statement that crayfish was harmful and the living environment was dirty. In June 2005, a rumor that "crayfish was used to dispose of corpses during World War II" appeared in Baidu Post Bar, and it was widely reprinted in Post Bar and Tianya Forum, which triggered a heated discussion. On July 24, 2006, Liberation Daily refuted this rumor, saying that although crayfish can survive in polluted waters, it does not mean that they only live in polluted waters. Heavy metals are really easy to gather in their heads but their bodies will not be stored. [detailed]

15. Genetically modified chicken for KFC and McDonald’s:Since 2008, rumors about KFC’s "six-winged chicken" and "spider chicken" have been circulated wildly all over the country. Many people also associate six-winged chicken with genetic modification, for fear that they will have genetic variation after eating six-winged chicken. By the end of April, 2015, there were more than 4,000 related articles on WeChat WeChat official account, and more than 130 accounts had more than 100,000 posts. Among them, 10 articles on WeChat WeChat official account, such as "Guangzhou Men and Women", "Chinese Buddhist Quotations", "Practical Life Tips" and "Zero Health", attracted the attention of netizens. [detailed]

16. Oxygen-enriched water supplements oxygen-enriched water:In February, 2014, Wahaha launched a new product "Wahaha Oxygen-enriched Water", and advertised "One bottle of oxygen-enriched water, walking in the forest for 2 hours", promoting that oxygen can be replenished after drinking oxygen-enriched water. This advertisement quickly attracted the attention of the public all over the country, and the product received public enthusiasm in a short time. In May 2014, Beijing Evening News, Beijing News, Yangzhou Evening News and other media successively rumored that oxygen-rich water was useless to the human body. Behind the false statement of "Wahaha oxygen-rich water", it is revealed that the concept water represented by oxygen-rich water lacks corresponding laws and regulations.[detailed]

17. Chlorine in tap water can cause cancer:Since 2014, an article "Hot rice in a steamer causes a bloody case!" has been circulated on WeChat platforms all over the country. See if you are committing suicide every day! This paper introduces that when cooking in a pot with cold water, the chlorine in tap water will be coated on the food after heating, which will cause cancer. Therefore, it is necessary to open the pot cover and boil the water before cooking the food. From March 4th to 8th, 2015, many WeChat WeChat official account still forwarded this article, including Daily Micro Magazine, Yige Beauty Industry, Jinhua People’s Pharmacy and People’s Health and Wellness. People’s Daily Online, Sohu.com, Beijing News.com and many other media have issued articles to refute rumors. [detailed]

18. "Saccharin Jujube":On September 1, 2015, qiongshan district Food and Drug Administration of Haikou City and the police raided a fruit wholesale market in Haikou City, and seized and sealed 3.3 tons of suspected dates on a truck. After the case was solved, the discussion about the saccharin jujube incident never stopped. Over the past year, major social platforms have frequently exposed false statements that suspected saccharin dates reappeared. In September 2016, a CCTV exposure: Don’t buy this jujube, no matter how sweet or red, it’s terrible! The video article of ""is madly transmitted on social platforms. [detailed]

19. A food is infected with H7N9 (pork, cherry, saute spicy chicken):"Shanzui Village, Gangyaoling Town, Huludao City, Liaoning Province, died of eating cherry infected with H7N9 yesterday afternoon … See, the mass spread, this news is true." This kind of news is widely spread in the circle of WeChat friends, and there are many versions. The content is roughly the same, but the time, place, name, virus and food are changed. [detailed]

20. Small molecular collagen anti-aging:At the beginning of 2014, Jimmy Lin, an artist, became a hot topic with his "reverse growth". Among the products launched by his company, there is a collagen drink with "small molecular collagen" as the main raw material. This is the secret of Jimmy Lin’s advertisement that he is not old, but there was no evidence that "small molecular collagen" can help beauty and skin care. [detailed]

Observation and comment

The rumor on the tip of the tongue should be cured.

On April 17th, the State Food and Drug Administration held a briefing, inviting the heads of relevant departments, experts and scholars, and employees of Internet platforms such as Tencent and Sina, from the Ministry of Agriculture, the State Health Planning Commission, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, the National Network Information Office, Tsinghua University and China Academy of Social Sciences, to have a discussion on how to effectively control food rumors through multi-party linkage. Yan Jiangying, spokesperson of the Food and Drug Administration, said that it is necessary to increase the punishment and accountability of food safety rumor makers, improve public scientific literacy, and make rumors nowhere to hide. [detailed]

Resisting food safety rumors requires "five parties to work together"

Recently, official website, the State Food and Drug Administration, released a batch of "Summary of Food and Drug Rumors in Recent Years", including "Crayfish is used to dispose of dead bodies", "Straight cucumbers are sprayed with medicine" and "KFC and McDonald’s use genetically modified chickens", including the recent news circulating on WeChat group that "something happened to milk again". [detailed]

How to break the rumors about food and medicine?

Authoritative medical information may be "secondary processed" in the process of communication, thus putting on the cloak of rumors and deviating from the track of facts. In order to improve the public’s "healthy thinking", what communicators need to do is to provide more professional "health counseling" and follow the standardized information control process to avoid deviation and distortion. [detailed]

Why is it difficult to ban "health rumors"?

Recently, several "health rumors" detonated the WeChat circle of friends. How do health rumors arise and ferment? Why is it so influential? How to establish a smooth rumor mechanism? [detailed]