Two needles found in the one strawberry punnet

A MOTHER almost fed her son a strawberry with a needle inside it, after buying a punnet of booby-trapped berries.

A QUEENSLAND mother has told of how she almost fed her young son a strawberry with a needle inside it.

A needle found in a strawberry purchased by Gladstone woman Angela Stevenson. Picture: Supplied

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

The strawberries were bought from Woolworths on Kirkwood Rd, in Gladstone’s south.

“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.

“Luckily he pulled it back out of his mouth and told the teacher.”

Ms Stevenson said she was also thankful she didn’t hand her baby a whole strawberry, as she sometimes does.

“It’s horrible. It’s sick,” she said.

Mrs Stevenson and her husband Aaron found the needles on Tuesday and reported it immediately.

Queensland man Hoani Hearne ended in hospital after he swallowed part of a needle and developing severe abdominal pain on Sunday.

“I bit straight in - kneejerk reaction was to swallow - and yeah it wasn’t a pleasant surprise,” the 21-year-old told the Nine Network.

A disgruntled former employee is suspected of sabotaging strawberries with sewing needles in a move that has sparked health alerts in three states.

Angela Stevenson discovered this needle in her punnet of strawberries. Picture: Facebook

Health authorities are warning people who have bought strawberries in Queensland, NSW and Victoria to throw suspect punnets out after several incidents of needles being found in strawberries sold at Woolworths.

Queensland Health and police urged people who bought strawberries sold under the brands Berry Obsession and Berry Licious across the eastern seaboard in the past week to throw them out.They are sold at Woolworths and possibly other outlets. A product recall is under way.

So far four contaminated punnets have been found - two in Queensland and two in Victoria.

Police suspect the ground-down needles were deliberately planted in the punnets, with the culprit intending to cause “grievous bodily harm or other objectives”.

Originally published as Two needles found in the one strawberry punnet