Pick-your-own fruit farms getting five times the inquiries since needle contamination

PICK-your-own fruit farms are being inundated with five times the inquiries than usual from strawberry lovers. It comes after needles were found in fruit across the country. But people won’t be able to pick the fruit just yet.

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PICK-your-own fruit farms are being inundated with inquiries from strawberry lovers worried about needles.

Bilpin Fruit Bowl owner Margaret Tadrosse, who stopped selling to Coles and Woolworths five years ago, said she has had a spike in calls since needles were first found in Queensland strawberries on September 9.

At this time of year she normally gets four inquiries per day about picking strawberries — now she is getting more than 20.

Shoppers are slowly gaining confidence in strawberries. Bray, 9, and his sister Ava-Grace enjoying a strawberry smoothie. Picture: Nathan Edwards

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“In light of what’s happened, people appear to have become more conscious about getting their own fruit,” Mrs Tadrosse said.

“To be completely self-interested, it has been pretty good for us.”

Her farm, at Richmond in Sydney’s northwest, gets as many as 2000 customers per weekend in peak season.

But Mrs Tadrosse and husband Simon won’t open their doors to strawberry customers for another five weeks, when the NSW season starts.

“A lot of farmers are doing pick-your-own because they do not want to send their fruit into markets,” she said.

As many as 50 cases of needles in fruit were reported in NSW alone. Picture: Supplied

It is a similar story over at Berrylicious Strawberries at Thirlmere, near Picton, which churns out more than 40 tonnes of strawberries every year.

Owner Asaf Bar Shalom has this week been flooded with calls.

“People are very eager to start picking,” he said.

Mr Bar Shalom has had to make sure people realise his company is not associated with the needle-affected Queensland Berry Licious brand.

Channel 7 had to apologise after wrongly running a picture of his brand in connection with a story about contaminated strawberries.

farmers have been forced to throw out tonnes of supplies of strawberries. Picture: Patrick Hamilton/AFP

“People understand that my operation is relatively small and a thousand miles away from the affected brand in Queensland,” Mr Bar Shalom said.

Coles has started putting strawberries back on the shelves after withdrawing all stock from NSW supermarkets on September 15.

“We’ve been delighted to see customers buying Coles strawberries and at some stores the demand has been so great we’ve sold out,” a spokesman said.

ALDI, Woolworths and IGA continue to sell uncontaminated brands.