Suspected copycat after new strawberry contamination found

AUTHORITIES have issued a fresh strawberry warning after police were informed of another incident, which could be a copycat.

POLICE believe a new strawberry contamination incident uncovered this morning could be the work of a copycat.

Acting Detective Chief Superintendent Terry Lawrence told reporters this afternoon that a Coles employee in Queensland town of Gattan bought a punnet of strawberries and found a small silver rod inside.

The item was lying on top of the punnet and had not been inserted into the fruit.

Previously four incidents have been reported of sewing needles being found in strawberries bought from Woolworths.

The incident has prompted a new urgent warning for strawberry lovers.

Queensland chief health officer Jeanette Young yesterday advised anyone who bought strawberries in Queensland, New South Wales or Victoria since early last week to get rid of them if they were from the brands Berry Licious and Berry Obsession, or if they were not sure what brand they were.

But she has now updated her warning in light of the copycat incident, saying anyone who had strawberries should cut them up before they eat them.

“We want everybody to check their strawberries before consuming them … just cut them up, have a look,” Supt Lawrence said.

A possible strawberry contamination incident.

As part of the investigation police are interviewing up to 100 employees of the supplier, which gets its fruit from two farms in Queensland, as well as past employees.

Police said it was keeping an open mind about where the needles were coming from and were looking at the entire process, from the growing to the distribution.

This is despite suspicions Queensland Strawberry Growers Association that a disgruntled former employee could be sabotaging strawberries with sewing needles.

Police have also confirmed a fourth strawberry incident in the regional Queensland town of Gladstone.

Supt Lawrence said in the last few days a 10-year-old had begun to consume a strawberry at school when a needle was found. The school spoke to the child’s mother and she found another needle in the punnet.

Gladstone woman Angela Stevenson said she got two needles from one punnet of Berry Obsession strawberries.

“I said I need you to stop him from eating the strawberries. It wasn’t five minutes later they rang back and said it was too late, he’d actually bitten into it,” she told ABC radio.

The Queensland Strawberry Growers Association suspects a former staff member is behind the contamination.

“At this time, (we) have reason to suspect that a disgruntled ex-employee may have orchestrated the occurrence, wherein sewing needles were found in a number of strawberries, in Queensland and Victoria,” a statement from the association said.

A single farm in southeast Queensland supplied the fruit to three Woolworths supermarkets in Queensland and Victoria where consumers found the needles.

It also supplies to stores in New South Wales.

Strawberries from Berry Obsession and Berry Licious have been contaminated with sewing needles. Source: Queensland Strawberry Growers Association Facebook.

Dr Young said the first case emerged on Sunday when a person complained of eating a contaminated strawberry in Queensland. He is the only person believed to have swallowed a needle

Victoria Police said what appeared to be sewing needles were located in two punnets in separate regional Victorian towns. One in Yarram and another in the southern Ballarat suburb of Sebastopol.

Police have advised anyone who finds a needle in their strawberries to ring them on 131 444.

Strawberries from the two brands have been removed from sale in Queensland, Victoria, NSW or ACT.

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