A video circulated on social media this year showing a long, thin worm that appeared to be inside a pepper.
This video first went viral in Brazil! However, thanks to the automatic Facebook translation in the end also in this country:
https://www.facebook.com/denise.monteiro.1800721/videos/188679335464650/
Translated into German, the description of the video is:
“Guys, be careful with the peppers..This worm is called Simla Mirch..a new worm that also lives in moist areas of the body..it can cause pain and even kill..??“
What does an expert say?
The doctor of entomology, researcher and coordinator of the Brazilian Society for Agricultural Research ( EMBRAPA ), Jorge Anderson Guimaraes , also watched the video and explains that this is not a new type of worm, but a probable contamination of peppers by nematodes (roundworms) in India.
These parasites are very diverse and, if they enter the human intestine, can cause abdominal pain and nausea. They usually enter the human body through consumption of raw or undercooked foods that are contaminated with eggs or larvae of roundworms.
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Just probably?
Yes, because in the video you can see the peppers already cut open, so it is not clear whether the nematode was not placed there beforehand in order to make a sensational video that quickly goes viral on the Internet. What is clear, however, is that it is not a new species of worm that you see in the video.
Can peppers be contaminated with roundworms?
This is possible if the nematodes, which normally live in water, have parasitized insects, which in turn lay their eggs in the pepper, causing the life cycle of a nematode to begin again.
Contamination of peppers can occur if they are grown very close to flooded areas and are not adequately controlled. While this can happen in India, where the video probably comes from, this is not possible in Brazil, says Guimaraes, because the peppers there are irrigated using spray droplets.
Brazil's National Health Surveillance Agency (ANVISA) says it has not received any reports of contaminated peppers in Brazil.
Is there a new species of worm called “Simla Mirch”?
Curious: “Simla Mirch” is apparently a mistranslation of the Hindi word “Shimla Mirch,” which means nothing other than peppers. There are also many Indian pepper recipes under the name:

While the descriptions of the video, which can also be found on many Indian sites , actually talk about a pepper (Shimla Mirch), in Brazil and in this country it became a new type of worm called “Simla Mirch”.
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Conclusion
No , there was no new species of worm called “Simla Mirch”. The video probably shows a pepper in India contaminated with a nematode. Even the Brazilian Ministry of Health had to refute these claims as fake and offers citizens
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Notes:
1) This content reflects the current state of affairs at the time of publication. The reproduction of individual images, screenshots, embeds or video sequences serves to discuss the topic. 2) Individual contributions were created through the use of machine assistance and were carefully checked by the Mimikama editorial team before publication. ( Reason )

