Maaza Contaminated with Ebola - Hyderabad Police Warning: Fact Check

Story:

Urgent forward
NOTE:
Important msg from Hyderabad police to all over India:
For the next few weeks do not drink any product of Maaza, as a worker from the company has added his blood contaminated with Ebola. It ws shown yesterday on NDTV… Pls forward this msg urgently to people you care… Take Care!!

Share it as much as u can.

Please pass it on to your families in india

Other Versions

1. Please forward to all your friends.
The message is given from Hyderabad police to all over India.
Do not drink cold drinks such as Maaza, Fanta, 7 Up, Coca Cola, Mountain Dew, Pepsi, etc. for next few days as a worker from the company has added his blood contaminated with Ebola virus in it.
It was shown yesterday on NDTV news….
Please forward this message to other people as well in your family as well. Thank you

Image about Important Message from Hyderabad Police – Maaza Contaminated with Ebola

2. (Hindi)

प्लीज सभी मित्रों फॉरवर्ड करे
Hyderabad पुलिस की तरफ से पूरी भारत में सूचना दी गयी हैं. कृपया आने वाले कुछ दिनों तक आप कोई भी कोल्ड ड्रिंक जैसे माज़ा, फैंटा, 7 अप, कोका कोला, mauntain डीओ, पेप्सी इत्यादि न पिए क्यूंकि इसमेंसे एक कंपनी के कामगर ने इसमें इबोला नामक खतरनाक वायरस का दूषित खून इसमें मिला दिया हैं . ये खबर कल NDTV चैनल में बताई थी . आप जल्द से जल्द इस मेसेज को फॉरवर्ड करके मदद करे. ये मेसेज आपके परिवार में फॉरवर्ड करे. आप जितना हो सके इसे शेयर करें ..धन्यवाद.

3. (Telugu)

దయచేసి స్నేహితులందరిని ఫార్వర్డ్ చేయండి. భారత దేశం అంతటా హైదరాబాద్ పోలీసులనుండి సమాచారం అందించబడింది. దయచేసి మజ్జా, ఫాంటా, 7 యూపి, కోకా కోలా, మౌంటైన్ డియో, పెప్సీ వంటి శీతల పానీయాలను రాబోయే కొద్దీ రోజులు తాగవద్దు ఎందుకంటే ఈ కంపెనీలలో ఒకదాని కార్మికుడు ఎబోలా అనే ప్రమాదకరమైన రక్తాన్ని చేర్చుకున్నాడు. ఈ వార్త నిన్న ఎన్డీటీవీ ఛానల్ లో చెప్పబడింది. దయచేసి ఏ సందేశాన్ని వీలైనంత త్వరగా నకిలీ చేయడం ద్వారా సహాయం చేయండి. మీ కుటుంబంలో ఈ సందేశాన్ని ఫార్వర్డ్ చేయండి. మీకు వీలైనంత వరకు షేర్ చేయండి.
.. ధన్యవాదాలు

Fact Check:

The story doing rounds online through social networking websites, including the free messaging service WhatsApp, warns consumers not to drink any product of Maaza saying that a worker from the Company has added his blood contaminated with Ebola virus. The warning supposedly coming from Hyderabad police in India is said to have been shown on NDTV as well. Readers need not share the health warning, as it is a hoax.

Maaza Contaminated with Ebola Virus?

The current story about Ebola contamination in Maaza appeared online last year in 2014 during the Ebola outbreak; it surfaced again in 2015. Yes, it is a fact that Ebola virus can spread through infected blood among many other transmission sources, but there is no evidence to prove that such an incident where a worker has contaminated a Maaza product with his Ebola contained blood has happened. Hyderabad police did not issue any such warning, and neither did NDTV show the message.

Old Story Refabricated

As a matter of fact, the Ebola story in question is simply a refabricated version of an old hoax story supposedly coming from Delhi police that stated a worker from Frooti Company has added to the drink his blood contaminated with HIV (AIDS). Very similar HIV warning surfaced in case of Pepsi as well.

Update: 04 June 2019

The scare stories about Ebola contamination in soft drink appeared again in 2019 carrying some pictures and a short video. The video showed a woman crying miserably around a baby and another woman lying wounded on ground. They are shown as resulting deaths after drinking the alleged soft drinks contaminated with Ebola virus. The warning messages allegedly released by Hyderabad Police tell consumers not to drink Maaza, Fanta, 7 Up, Coca Cola, Mountain Dew, Pepsi etc. for next few days as a company worker has contaminated them with his Ebola-infected blood. Again, the claims are not true – the pictures and video are coming from different incidents not related to any such said contamination.

The first picture of people gathering around dead bodies in a hospital shows blast victims after a suicide bomb attack near the Wagah border in November 2014. The second picture showing some dead bodies lying on ground is the aftermath of a road accident in Lakhimpur in 2018. The other two pictures of officials inspecting couple of bottles and packs of Coca Cola bottles are from a 2015 raid in Pakistan’s Gujranwala. The unhygienic factory was manufacturing fake soft drink products. Coming to the video, it in fact comes from an incident in Telangana when a Sub-Inspector beat his wife, baby and mother-in-law after his extramarital affair came to light. Below is a Times of India news report of the incident.