Canberra, Australia
Needle scare: Someone has been hiding sewing needles in Australian strawberries, prompting supermarket recalls and leading some stores in New Zealand to temporarily ban Aussie berries. The Queensland Strawberry Growers Association said it believed a disgruntled former employee was behind the initial attack, but many of the dozens of subsequent cases may have been copycats. Police said a young boy, whose age was not released, had been arrested for putting needles in strawberries as “a prank.” The government this week proposed increasing the penalty for food tampering from 10 years in prison to 15. “It’s not a joke, it’s not funny,” Prime Minister Scott Morrison said of the copycat incidents. “You’re a coward and a grub.”