Nail found in punnet of strawberries in South Australia

A woman has found a nail in her punnet of strawberries while making a smoothie. Police are now testing the packaging and the nail.

A nail has been found in a punnet of strawberries purchased at a store north of Adelaide.

Both the packaging and the nail are being forensically examined.

Police have not ruled out accidental contamination and say no other strawberries at the same location were found to contain foreign objects.

The strawberries were purchased in Gawler on August 15 but there have been no reports of similar incidents.

The woman who found the nail told Nine News that she hadn’t noticed the nail when she cut up the strawberries for her smoothie and only found it later when she noticed something shiny.

A nail found in a punnet of strawberries in South Australia. Source: Nine News.

WATCH: A northern suburbs woman says she found a nail inside a strawberry punnet, sparking a police investigation. Hear from her TONIGHT in #9NewsAt6 pic.twitter.com/wqwylkTHd8

— Nine News Adelaide (@9NewsAdel) August 20, 2019

In 2018, Australian strawberry growers were rocked as police across the country investigated more than 100 reports of their fruit being contaminated with needles and other objects.

Many of the reports were found to be fake or copycat incidents but the scare prompted the federal government to rush through tougher penalties for so-called “food terrorists”.

A 50-year-old woman, who was a former farm employee allegedly motivated by revenge, was later charged with seven counts of contamination of goods with intent to cause economic loss.

The industry also received a $1 million relief package, including $350,000 to invest in tamper-proof containers, marketing and training.