Anxious times in strawberry market
Strawberry Growers New Zealand chairman Anthony Rakich says he is awaiting the results of police and Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) investigations into needles inserted into Australian fruit.
The ministry confirmed that Woolworths informed it three needles had been found in three strawberries from one imported punnet in an Auckland supermarket, and advised consumers to report anything suspicious to retailers or MPI.
Police were also informed and a probe is under way.
Rakich said he was about to begin his strawberry harvest. Strawberries NZ is a voluntary group representing 95 per cent of the growers.
‘‘We have to continue or I’m out of business. We’re taking all measures to ensure safety and looking at whatever we can do.’’
New Zealand producers will have the market to themselves because Woolworths has withdrawn all Australian Choice-branded strawberries from its Countdown, SuperValue and FreshChoice supermarkets.
Foodstuffs has aso decided to wait for local strawberries to come onto the market to sell in its New World, Pak’n Save and Four Square shops.
A spokeswoman said Foodstuffs had met growers and discussed security measures being taken including packaging.
She said there was always a question of whether over-reporting merely fed the egos of people carrying out tampering but Foodstuffs also wanted to reassure customers.
Australian imported strawberries had always been a small percentage of sales, and local fruit was now coming into shops.
There have been no reports of illness or injury in New Zealand.