Walmart Has Recalled 7 Tons of Bananas Infested with Parasitic Worms-Fiction!
Summary of eRumor:
Walmart has recalled 7 tons of bananas that were infested with parasitic worms.
The Truth:
Walmart hasn’t recalled 7 tons of bananas because of parasitic worms.
That rumor was started by fake news websites that are designed to look like local news stations. The story first appeared at the website Now8News and has been re-published by similar websites.
The fake report claimed that Walmart had distributed 7 tons of bananas from Malyasia that were infested with parasitic worms from July 30 to August 6. The bananas (supposedly) left 187 people hospitalized across the U.S., with 23 of them in critical condition.
Now8News accepts viewer-submitted stories, according to its About Us page. That leaves the website with a mix of factual reports and fictional reports with headlines like, “Obese Woman Arrested for Starving Her 7 Kids: ‘There Was Only Enough Food for Me.’”
It’s best to check the Walmart’s product recall alert page whenever you hear a rumor about a product recall. In this case, a recall alert for 7 tons of bananas is nowhere to be found there.