A graphic which has circulated online for four years shows a Tim Tam label with a warning that it may contain human flesh. Is this real or fake?
The photo is fake.
Tim Tams are chocolate biscuits produced in Australia. The graphic first came to light in March 2011 when Weird Al tweeted it. It isn’t clear if Weird Al had a hand in creating the image or if he merely passed it on, but that is certainly when the graphic began spreading online. The warning reads, “May contain traces of peanuts and human flesh.”
Two things easily debunk this graphic. First, allergy warnings do not appear by themselves in this manner on the side of the packaging. Allergy warnings actually appear near the ingredients. Second, inspection of Tim Tam wrappers from that time showed that no such warning exists.
There is clearly no warning on this package of Tim Tams. This allergy warning is fake.Search History
The Google Trends graph below shows search interest in this topic. It shows several peaks occurring over the past few years. Despite the graph below, we have seen some interest in the photo in mid-2015.
Bottom Line
The graphic showing a “human flesh” warning on the side of a Tim Tam package is fake. It has been circulating for several years and popularized on social media when it was tweeted out by Weird Al.
Updated July 27, 2015
Originally published January 2013