Supermarket pulls strawberries from its shelves after a shopper discovered a needle inside one piece of fruit
- Strawberry contamination fear after needle found in fruit at a supermarket
- Customer purchased punnet from Foodland at Stirling, Adelaide Hills, Thursday
- She was cutting the fruit with her 11-year-old son and found the needle
- South Australia police say they have begun investigations into the incident
A popular supermarket has pulled strawberries from its shelves after a customer found a needle in the fruit.
Anne Lentakis had purchased the punnet of Berry Indulgence from a Foodland in Stirling, Adelaide Hills, on Thursday.
Ms Lentakis told ABC Radio she and her 11-year-old son had been cutting the fruit for an afternoon snack when they came across the contaminated strawberry.
‘He cut one strawberry and found a pin deep inside the strawberry,’ she said.
‘He said to me, ‘Mum, I think there’s a pin in my strawberry’.’
The distraught mother said her eight-year-old son later found another needle planted in a different strawberry.
A popular supermarket has pulled strawberries from its shelves after a customer found a needle in the fruit
Anne Lentakis had purchased the punnet of Berry Indulgence from a Foodland in Stirling, Adelaide Hills, on Thursday
Ms Lentakis has since notified the fruit and vegetable store of the find and it has pulled the Berry Indulgence brand from its shelves.
‘I think there have been things put in place since this happened before with metal scanning, so that was a bit confusing to wonder how and why this could happen but [he was] very appreciative that I had called him,’ she said.
‘He had jumped on the phone and activated their procedures.’
South Australia police are reportedly investigating the incident.
The harrowing find comes after several needles and thumbtacks were found in groceries at South Australian supermarkets in June and July.
A metal needle was found in a punnet of strawberries and avocado and a thumbtack discovered in a loaf of bread after three different customers purchased the groceries from a Woolworths at Golden Grove, in north-Adelaide.
Woolworths provided police with CCTV footage and also launched their own investigation.
Ms Lentakis told ABC Radio she and her 11-year-old son had been cutting the fruit for an afternoon snack when they came across the contaminated strawberry
The distraught mother said her eight-year-old son later found another needle planted in a different strawberry
‘We’ve also commenced our own investigation with the assistance of our suppliers, in line with our established food safety procedures,’ a supermarket spokesperson said at the time.
Another customer also discovered a thumbtack planted in a strawberry after she purchased the fruit from a Foodland supermarket at Goolwa, south of Adelaide.
A national health crisis was sparked in September 2018 when sewing needles were discovered inside strawberries on sale at major supermarkets.
The contamination scare saw supermarkets pull punnets from their shelves and farmers dump the fruit by the truckload.
Some consumers were reluctant to purchase strawberries and the decline in demand had a significant impact on producers.
The estimated farm gate value of Queensland strawberries had declined by 8 per cent for 2018 to 2019, worth around $12million.