We need to defy needle panic
THE thought of biting into a juicy strawberry only to have a needle pierce the roof of your mouth is enough to make anyone’s blood run cold. But to submit to that fear is a sign of weakness and laziness.
It’s a sad state of affairs when the simple act of cutting up strawberries before consumption is too much for many Australians who have stopped purchasing the fruit altogether. Sales are down by 50 per cent according to some producers who are seeing the fruits of their labour rot, literally.
Watching footage of truckloads, of the sweet, luscious produce being dumped almost brought a tear to my eye.
We cannot allow “food terrorists” to dictate what we consume or let them damage the livelihood of hardworking farmers across the country, particularly when the simple act of cutting the fruit would alleviate any concerns about contamination.
It’s a sign of just how soft and coddled we have become as a nation when an entire industry is sent into chaos thanks to the actions of one, or a few, demented drongos inserting needles into strawberries.
Hundreds of Australian strawberry farmers are struggling. Some are having to destroy berries at the height of the season, as major supermarkets temporarily pull the fruit off their shelves.
Some of the affected brands, including Berry Obsession, Berry Licious and Donnybrook Berries, have recalled all their produce nationwide, and dumped tonnes of stock. Coles pulled all strawberries off their shelves even though some brands have been unaffected.
Thus far there have been more than a dozen reports of strawberries being contaminated, as well as isolated reports of a banana and an apple being tainted.
Copycat offenders are making a grim situation considerably worse with their criminally stupid conduct, and creating greater fear in the com- munity. Piñata Farms managing director Gavin Scurr implored Australians to continue purchasing strawberries despite the contamination scare.
“There’s a handful of cases in 100 million punnets, but it’s really brought our industry to its knees,” Scurr said on radio 3AW.
“Strawberry sales are less than half of what they were a week ago.
“It’s still perfect fruit. Please just cut them. I appreciate it’s a bit more effort for some people.”
Meanwhile, our feckless cousins across the ditch have made matters worse for Australian farmers. New Zealand’s two biggest food distributors, Foodstuffs and Countdown, have decided to pull our strawberries out of their stores.
We should eat more strawberries than ever to show our support to growers and also because strawberries are in season and delicious. Such action would also show idiots contemplating contaminating food that they will not succeed in destroying an industry.
It’s heartening to see a fightback of sorts happening as authorities step up efforts to find the culprits and the Queensland government putting up a $100,000 reward and also sets up a $1 million fund to help the state’s farmers.
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk described the sabotage as “an ugly, calculated and despicable crime” that is “an attack on all of us”.
“The sabotage of our strawberry industry is not just an attack on hardworking growers and workers, but it reaches into almost every home and school lunch box,” she said.
“Strawberry farmers say their banks have already been on the phone to them … I urge those banks to act responsibly and with compassion.”
It’s unfortunate that in 2018 we have to run metal detectors over fresh fruit to ensure it is safe to eat.
But that is now happening at farms across the nation, from Western Australia to Queensland to Victoria.
Sadly, it’s all too easy to tamper with food, so miscreants with ill intentions can always find a way to cause chaos and harm.
We need to use available technology to increase monitoring and enforce stiff penalties for those who deliberately contaminate food.
And we have to be stoic in the face of threats and stand by our growers, who feed the nation.