This 2017 photo shows food waste in Australia -- it is unrelated to the COVID-19 pandemic
- This article is more than one year old.
- Published on May 12, 2020 at 08:30
- 2 min read
- By AFP Sri Lanka
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This photo has been shared almost 2,000 times after it was posted on Facebook on May 2, 2020.
The post's Sinhala-language caption translates to English as: “Incompetence of rulers. Rulers familiar only with thieving, have forgotten our innocent farmers”.
The text overlay in the image reads: “Unable to make the tomatoes into sauce”.
The claim circulated online following reports that Sri Lanka farmers were facing difficult circumstances during the nationwide COVID-19 lockdown. Here is a report about the issue published by Sri Lankan news organisation News First on April 11, 2020.
The image was also shared with a similar claim on Facebook here, here, here, here and here.
The claim is misleading; the image was published in 2017 news reports about Australia’s food wastage.
A reverse image search of the photo in the misleading posts on Google found this report published by UK newspaper The Guardian on October 13, 2017, alongside the title “Almost 90% of edible tomatoes thrown away based on appearance - research”.
The image's caption states: “Rejected tomatoes being dumped in a Bundaberg field. Photograph: University of Sunshine Coast”.
The university is located on the Sunshine Coast in the Australian state of Queensland.
Below is a screenshot comparison of the image in the misleading posts (L) and the photo published in The Guardian article (R):
The photo can also be seen in this corresponding study published by the University of the Sunshine Coast on its website on October 11, 2017.
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