Twitter and Facebook posts warn against foods with a green frog logo. Their authors threaten that products marked in this way are harmful. These entries are misleading. We explain what Rainforest Alliance certification means.
“Do not under any circumstances buy products with this mark. This is Bill and Melinda Gates plastic food. GMO and with MRNA” – he wrote July 4th, anonymous Twitter user (original spelling of all entries). The entry was accompanied by a graphic with the sign referred to in the tweet. This one features a distinctive three-toed frog. Around it there is a border with the inscription in English: “Rainforest Alliance People & Nature”. The post has been viewed over 75,000 times. times. More than 1.3 thousand people liked it. users, and shared almost 700.
“Avoid ‘food’ produced by this son of a bitch! It is unknown what poisons from this pervert are out there. He has already killed millions of people around the world with his injections / sprays,” another Twitter user wrote on July 8. He then listed two brands of tea that were supposed to be on the poisoned food list. The tweet was accompanied by a picture of Bill Gates, with green markings pasted around his face with a very similar frog symbol as in the previously discussed tweet. Around the symbol on the rim you can see the English inscription “Rainforest Alliance Certified”. The tweet was viewed 53,000 times. times. It was liked by over 950 Twitter users and shared by over 380.
Misleading tweets from early July 2023Twitter
Similar posts circulated in early July also on Polish-speaking Facebook.
Some netizens believed the warnings from popular posts. “Thanks for the info”; “Also watch out for bananas with this logo because it’s easier to miss”; “In Lidl, every second ice cream has such a frog”; “A lot of these things are made in Germany, teas, coffees, sweets”; “Mankind will still learn a lot. But it will be after the fact with a hand in the potty” – they commented.
“I’m eating right now. What’s going to happen to me?” – one Twitter user wrote in response, showing a picture of a package of chocolate-covered raisins with a frog symbol.
Some were skeptical of the frog food warning message: “Could you prove it?”; “I searched and searched and found nothing about it…”; “Someone here doesn’t seem to know what RFA is…”; “I used to work in one of these factories and we didn’t add anything to the tea. So I don’t know where you got such top secret data either. This sign means the same thing as carbon footprint soon: our company is proud to pay extra tax/fee in the name of fighting climate change “; “Take the time to find out what Rainforest Alliance is and what it does.”
We explain what the frog logo on products means.
Who is behind the frog symbol on the products
The logo that has been warned about in popular posts belongs to an international organization called the Rainforest Alliance. yeah to introduce as “an international non-profit organization working at the intersection of business, agriculture and forests to make responsible business the new normal”. It has been operating since 1986 and is headed by it Daniel Katzone of the co-founders, American environmental activist.
Bill Gates is neither on the board nor on the board of the Rainforest Alliance, according to the organization’s website. It should also be noted that the Rainforest Alliance was a grantee of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. In 2007 granted her $5.3 million.
The organization runs a certification program for sustainably produced food. “Sign [Rainforest Alliance Certified] means that a certified product has been produced using methods that support the three pillars of sustainable development: social, economic and environmental” – explain on your website. And it ensures that “independent, external auditors” assess farmers against the requirements in all three areas before granting or renewing certification. Organization shares list of certified products.
The green frog in the awarded mark is a red-eyed tree frog (Agalychnis callidryas). This species of frog is the organization’s mascot, Becauseis commonly found in the Neotropics, where the founders of the Rainforest Alliance began working to protect tropical rainforests.
Certification not related to GMOs and mRNA technology
Contrary to Internet users’ claims, the certificate does not mean that the food on which it is packaged is poisonous or harmful, or that it is genetically modified organism (GMO).
It is worth recalling that Poland is a country free of GMO crops, about which informs State Inspection of Plant Health and Seed Inspection. It has been in force in the country since 2013 prohibition of GMO crops, and the introduction of genetically modified products on the Polish market requires a permit from the Minister of Agriculture. He cares about the safety of food products available in Poland Chief Sanitary Inspectorate.
Similar posts about products with the frog logo were previously verified by a fact-checking portal Demagog.pl. As he explained, the Rainforest Alliance certification has nothing to do with mRNA (messenger RNA) technology. Work on this technology continued over 20 yearsbefore it was first used on a large scale in Pfizer and Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccines in late 2020 and early 2021. This is not the first time that online entries mislead about mRNA technology or threaten its use. What we described in Konkret24.
Posts convincing that Bill Gates is poisoning food are not new in Polish social media. In May this year we explainedthat fruits and vegetables with the Apeel sticker are not coated with a harmful substance. Internet users mistakenly convinced that the company belongs to or is financed by Gates.
Main photo source: Lev Radin/Shutterstock