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Photos of counterfeit soft drink factory from Pakistan, not South Africa

A Facebook post widely shared in South Africa warns people against buying soft drinks from “Indian and Somali shops” and “Pakistan related stores” like Cambridge, Boxer and Nizams.

It claims “all those indigenous shops” get their soft drinks from fake factories. Instead, people should “make sure” they “buy cold drink” at Spar, Shoprite and other stores.

The post includes over a dozen photos of a dark and dirty-looking fake soft drink factory.



Allegations of fake food products sold in migrant owned shops have fuelled xenophobic sentiment in South African townships in recent years. But a quick reverse image search of the photos from this particular post shows that the images are actually from a District Food Authority raid in the city of Gujranwala, Pakistan in 2015.

Reports of fake Coca-Cola products have prompted the Coca-Cola company to issue statements urging people to report counterfeit products. But as of August 2018 the company had not received any official complaints about fake products from customers in South Africa.

There is no indication such a small factory in Pakistan could be involved in exporting counterfeit products as far as South Africa. We rate the post as false. – Africa Check (09/04/19)




 

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