PHNOM PENH, Dec. 31 (Xinhua) -- The Thai embassy to Cambodia on Saturday rejected news that canned food, particularly canned fruit, manufactured in Thailand were contaminated with HIV.
HIV is the virus that causes AIDS.
"The embassy would like to state that the news is absolutely false," said the embassy press statement.
The rejection came after the news being circulated in Cambodia via text messages and in social media cited that the Thai government has confirmed that canned food, particularly canned fruit, made in Thailand were contained HIV and called on customers not to buy those products.
"There is no truth whatsoever in it and there is no such statement by the Thai government or any of the Thai authorities," the statement said.
It added that the embassy also found that the piece of news was nothing but a recycled one that went viral in Malaysia, the Philippines, Brunei and Indonesia in 2013 and 2014.
"This groundless piece is apparently intended by some individuals/organizations with ill intentions to discredit Thai food exporters and Thai products together," the statement said.
The embassy also called on people not to share and circulate the fake news.
Thailand is one of the leading trading partners of Cambodia. The total trade between Cambodia and Thailand topped 5 billion U.S. dollars in 2015.
