The Daily Telegraph

Supermarke­t stops selling needles after fruit sabotage

- By Jonathan Pearlman in Sydney

THE Australian supermarke­t Woolworths has removed sewing needles from its stores to prevent them being inserted into strawberri­es and other fruit following an outbreak of food sabotage across the country.

As the government introduced tougher jail sentences for saboteurs, Woolworths said: “We have taken the precaution­ary step of temporaril­y removing sewing needles from sale.”

More than 100 cases of needles found in fruit have occurred in the past week, mainly in strawberri­es but also in bananas, apples and mangoes. The crisis has led to plummeting strawberry prices and forced growers to dump millions of berries.

Some farmers and wholesaler­s have been looking to install metal detectors to prevent further sabotage.

Authoritie­s believe the initial cases targeted strawberri­es and may have been part of a vendetta, but there have since been dozens of copycat cases. Fruit sellers, health agencies and police have encouraged consumers to cut fruit before eating it.

“[We] remind the public to be vigilant and exercise caution when buying strawberri­es and other fruit in New South Wales,” said Det Supt Daniel Doherty, of New South Wales police.

Scott Morrison, the prime minister, has introduced new laws to increase jail sentences for food contaminat­ion from 10 to 15 years, saying the crisis was causing fear across the country.

“Mums and dads and kids have real concerns and fears,” he told Channel Nine. “It’s not a joke.

“It’s not funny. You’re putting the livelihood­s of hard-working Australian­s at risk. And you’re scaring children.”

The scare has prompted people to share online recipes for products that use smashed strawberri­es, such as tarts, cakes and cocktails. Others have suggested using egg slicers to cut strawberri­es to ensure they are safe.

Australia’s other big supermarke­t chain, Coles, said it would continue to sell sewing needles.

“We have worked with suppliers to implement additional control measures to ensure strawberri­es are inspected before they are sent to supermarke­ts,” a spokesman said.

The states of Queensland and New South Wales have offered rewards for any informatio­n about fruit tampering.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United Kingdom