Jan 10, 20223 min read

UNPROVEN: Viral “Fake food video” by First Media stirred up food scare

Updated: Jan 20, 2022

Fact-checked by: Pearl Julia Sibug

Red Bullets:

Claim: A three-and-a-half minute video posted by First Media showed 16 tests to determine if a food item is fake.
Rating: Partly False (Unproven)
The truth: The video has more false and unproven claims in the 16 enumerated ‘fake food’ claims it showed.
We fact-checked this because: As of this writing, the claim was viewed 87 million times on Facebook, and garnered 500,000 reactions, 216,000 comments and 3 million shares. On Twitter and Instagram, it fetched 8 million views and 118,000 retweets, and 1.9 million views, respectively. It has caught the attention of consumers which has cast doubt in food products that affected the image of manufacturers.

Red Totality:

Food manufacturers and consumers disagreed over a video that production house First Media posted on June 1, 2019, pointing out several ways to distinguish real from fake food. This three and a half minute video was then posted in Blossom, one of the brands of First Media, which has a verified Facebook page that directly caters to young women and mothers. However, it was then taken down after the commotion it has caused between consumers and manufacturers.

Overnight, the video reached 40 million views on Facebook and then hit 87 million views by Thursday. It gained 500,000 reactions, 216,000 comments and 3 million shares, which made it exceptionally viral.

The video also spread across other social media platforms such as Twitter where it gained 8 million views and 118,000 retweets, and Instagram where it has 1.9 million views.

The video featured 16 tests to know if food was fake, including instructions and demonstrations. Four of the claims were false, four were unproven. Whereas five of the claims were a mixture of true and unproven, two were mostly true, and only one is true.

The first false claim was: “Processed cheese with chemicals is difficult to melt.” Snopes pointed out a Kraft representative’s statement on the Facebook comment section saying that their cheese products should not be exposed directly to flame because it was not the right way to enjoy their products. It further explained that Kraft Singles, a cheese slice product of Kraft, were made with emulsifiers that held fat and protein together and thus would not melt easily, especially at high heat levels. Instead of exposing the product to open flame,the brand recommended that it be melted under lower heat with longer exposure.

The second false claim was that rice “is mixed with plastic bits to increase manufacturer profit,” which was debunked multiple times since 2011. Raw Story and The Mary Sue published articles discussing this.

The third false claim was, “Synthetic supplements burn! Natural supplements won’t!” There is no clear basis for the claims, and similarities between synthetic and natural supplements are always present according to Eric Decker, head of the Department of Food Science in University of Massachusetts at Amherst, who was consulted by Snopes with this fake food video. These similarities may be explained in the absorbability of synthetic and natural supplements according to studies.

The fourth false claim was that washing powder was added to ice cream “for shine and lightness.” According to Snopes, there was no evidence for this. It even checked FDA’s database, which showed no complaints about ice cream having washing powder in it.

Apart from the false claims, the video also had four unproven claims. The first such claim was that baby food contained ground-up rocks advertised as fortified calcium.

This misleading content describes fortified calcium as “ground-up rocks” but in fact, calcium is naturally found in rocks.

The second unproven claim was that coffee with additives floats but pure coffee sinks. The video failed to prove this claim but as per Food Safety and Standards Authority of India’s guidelines and clay test, pure coffee was seen floating on water while adulterated coffee sinks.

The third unproven claim is that pure spices burn and ignite while impure spices don’t. Once again, the FSSAI guidelines can be consulted.

The last unproven claim is: “If butter contains oil, the sugar will turn pink.” Dixit provided an outline of an experiment explaining how butter had vanaspati, a kind of vegetable shortening which caused a crimson red color to appear when added with a pinch of sugar.