China Rejected Musang King Durians Due To High Levels Of Insecticide?
A viral message circulating on the Net claims so.
By Sadho Ram — 19 Nov 2017, 02:18 PM
A viral message allegedly showing Musang King durians being rejected for export to China due to high levels of insecticide has been doing the rounds of social media since past few days
One of the posts with the viral message allegedly showing the Musang Kind durians.
The viral message warns people to eat the durians at "your own discretion", claiming the piles of rejected durians had too high levels of insecticide and are now being sold in Malaysia at cheap prices
Apparently, the rejected Musang King durians from China are sold at RM30 per kg in Bentong and Raub, the viral message claims.
However, a report in NST Online yesterday, 18 November, refuted the claims made in the viral message, saying the message is fake and is an attempt to sabotage the popularity of the Malaysian durians.
It reported durian farmers describing the viral message and picture as mere rumours and saying that genuine durian lovers remain unperturbed by the news.
A Raub Durian Orchard owner said the viral news is untrue
Eddie Yong, the Durian Orchard owner from Raub who has been planting durians for more than 32 years, was quoted by NST Online saying that the news about durian rejected by China due to too high insecticide in the fruits and were later sold in Pahang at a cheap price is untrue.
"It clearly does not make sense... who wants to pay the transportation fees to bring the durian back to Malaysia. The lifespan of our durians is only within one to two days before it gets rotten.
"Based from what I heard, the photograph might have been taken in Thailand and some irresponsible individuals had circulated it claiming it is from Bentong and Raub which is known as the hometown of durians," he said.
Additionally, a local food blog has also rubbished the claim
The food blog, Places and Foods.com, and its author Wilson Ng pointed out a really important factor while also listing down five reasons why the viral message about Musang King durians being rejected by China doesn't make any sense.
Ng pointed out that the durians meant for export to China are frozen, regardless of whether they are to be exported whole or in packets, which did not appear to be the case with the durians shown in the viral photos.