Health Director-General Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah has rubbished claims that canned fruits from Thailand contain Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV).

He said HIV lived in human body fluid and could not live in canned food which had undergone high temperature heat treatment.

He said the health ministry had obtained the confirmation from the Thai Embassy in Malaysia that the information was indeed baseless.

"The ministry is always regulating all imported food products to ensure food is safe, as well as alert to matters that can threaten the health of consumers," he said in a statement here on Saturday.

He said those who had doubts on food safety issues could contact the nearest district health office or state health department or surf its website at http://moh.spab.gov.my or the facebook page of the Food Safety and Quality Division (BKKM) at http://www.facebook.com/bkkmhq. -- Bernama