People buy vegetables as an employee of the Bangkok Metropolitan Authority sprays water to clean the Yodpiman Flower Market in Bangkok on January 6, 2021 ( AFP / MLADEN ANTONOV)

Thai Facebook users share misleading 'tip for detoxifying fruit and vegetables'

This article is more than one year old.
Published on February 10, 2022 at 08:46
2 min read
By AFP Thailand

Multiple Facebook posts in Thailand shared thousands of times claim that soaking fruit and vegetables in water with charcoal can help remove toxins. This is misleading: Thai health authorities said it did not recommend the proposed washing method as there was "no guarantee" it could remove all unwanted toxins. A Thai health expert separately told AFP that the technique was "not recommended" as it may not remove all toxins.

"Soak vegetables and fruits in water and charcoal sticks" reads a Thai-language Facebook post shared on January 23, 2022.

Parts of the text translates to English as: "Charcoal can be used to absorb toxins or pesticides which may have contaminated the vegetables and fruits. Keep soaked for 15-20 minutes and then wash with clean water."

The post adds that the charcoal can then be dried and "reused many times".

Screenshot of the misleading Facebook post, taken on February 3, 2022

The post features an image that shows charcoal sticks and grapes in a silver bowl filled with water. It has been shared more than 11,000 times.

Identical claims have been shared here and here on Facebook.

Charcoal is a form of carbon, generally used for heating and cooking.

Somsak Siriwanarungsan, director of the health department's Bureau of Food and Water Sanitation, said that the claim was misleading.

"While there are medical cases in which activated carbon is used to absorb toxins inside our bodies, there is no guarantee that this method can absorb all unwanted toxins from fruit or vegetables," he said during an interview with AFP on February 7.

"We do not recommend this method," Somsak said. "There is no scientific evidence that activated carbon is recommended for cleaning fruits and vegetables."

Thailand's department of health has published recommendations on how to wash vegetables before consumption.

The tips include washing fruit and vegetables with running water, or water mixed with either vinegar or sodium bicarbonate -- but there is no reference to charcoal.

Jessada Denduangboripant, a professor at Chulalongkorn University's Department of Biology, told AFP that the post appeared to have confused "normal charcoal sticks with activated carbon or activated charcoal".

Activated carbon is a manufactured form of charcoal capable of absorbing gas or liquid, which is sometimes used in water purification.

Jessada said that while activated carbon can be used to purify water, it was "not recommended" for cleaning fruit and vegetables because it may not extract all toxins.

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