A video of a man opening sealed packets of bread from a loading truck while licking his fingers has gone viral on social media in the light of the coronavirus pandemic. It is being shared with the claim that the man hails from the Muslim community. A Facebook user posted the viral video and wrote, “Jihadis are applying spit on bread as well (translated from ब्रेड में भी थूक लगा रहे है जिहादी).” This video has been viewed over 5,500 times. (archive link)
ब्रेड में भी थूक लगा रहे है जिहादी
Posted by Hareesh Katyal on Monday, April 6, 2020
Another Facebook user Anil Singh made a similar claim and posted the viral video on Facebook. It was viewed over 7,000 times and shared over 900 times (archive link).
Alt News has received several requests to fact-check this video on WhatsApp (+91 76000 11160) and on our official Android application.
Fact-check
Alt News analysed the video using InVid, a video verification tool, and performed a reverse image search using Google. We found that the video was published by Philippines-based news website ABS-CBN News on September 20, 2019. According to the report, “[Baker] Gardenia Philippines on Friday said that the delivery personnel caught on camera tampering with a loaf of bread was dealing with stocks scheduled for disposal and not from fresh stocks for deliveries.” Another Philippines-based news outlet SAGISAG also published a report on this incident. 
The brand clarified the matter on its Facebook page on September 19, 2019. The statement added, “the delivery man took out bread slices from pulled out loaves for his personal use. This is a violation of company rules and procedures. The personnel involved is now undergoing administrative due process.”
Dear valued customers and friends of Gardenia,
Gardenia is saddened by the product tampering incident done in public by…
Posted by Gardenia Philippines on Thursday, 19 September 2019
None of the reports on the issue has named the offender or reported any specifics about the person. Thus, terming him a ‘jihadi’ – a derogatory word used for Muslims – is an act of manufactured misinformation meant to delegitimize the Muslim community. Alt News has been regularly debunking such false claims in recent times. Earlier, a video of a restaurant employee packing food was shared with the false claim that a Muslim man was spitting on the food.
Note: The number of positive cases of the novel coronavirus in India exceeds 5,000 and more than 150 deaths have so far been reported. The government has imposed a complete restriction on movement apart from essential services to tackle the pandemic. Globally, more than 14 lakh confirmed cases and over 80,000 deaths have been reported. There is a sense of panic among citizens, causing them to fall for a variety of online misinformation – misleading images and videos rousing fear or medical misinformation promoting pseudoscience and invalid treatments. While your intentions may be pure, misinformation, spread especially during a pandemic, can take lives. We request our readers to practice caution and not forward unverified messages on WhatsApp and other social media platforms.
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