KUANTAN: Fake news about rejected Musang King durian fruits from China sold at RM30 per kg in Bentong and Raub is an attempt to sabotage the popularity of the fruit.
Durian farmers described the viral message and picture which has been circulating on the social media since Friday night as mere rumours and genuine durian lovers remain unperturbed about the news.
Raub Durian Orchard owner Eddie Yong said 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 life span of our durians is only within one to two days before its gets rotten.
"Based from what I heard, the photograph (of durian which went viral) 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," said Ng who has been planting durians for more than 32 years.
Meanwhile, Karak Organic Durian Farm owner Ng Swee Ten said the durian fruits in the picture which has gone viral does not belong to the Musang King variety.
Ng, who has been operating his farm in Karak, Bentong for more than 20 years, said the durian in the image were supposedly durians from Thailand and not taken in any part of Malaysia.
"It is not the shape of Musang King and furthermore all this while we are only allowed to export frozen durian pulps to China, he said.
It was only recently durian fruits were exported to the Nanning Durian Festival.
"There has been abundance of supply for the Musang King variety and that is the reason for the price to drop to between RM30 and RM50 from RM100 previously. There are so many durians orchards in Bentong and Raub with some competition to attract customers," he said, adding durian lovers will not be easily duped by such news.
The fake message on WhatsApp claimed that "China rejected close to 20 containers of Musang King durians due to too high insecticide detected in the fruit and the durians have been returned back to Malaysia and were sold at a cheap price in Raub and Bentong for RM30 per kg.
The State Federal Agricultural Marketing Authority could not be reached for comments.