As major supermarkets continue to pull strawberry punnets from their shelves, the Queensland government has offered a reward of $100,000 for information leading to the arrest of the person responsible for contaminating the fruit with sewing needles.
Per reports in ABC News, premier premier Annastacia Palaszczuk approved the reward over the weekend, after saying that police are doing everything they can to catch the culprit, who potentilly faces up to ten years behind bars.
Palaszczuk slammed the “callous” act, saying:
“This is putting families’ lives at risk and it’s also putting the strawberry industry at risk … This is a $160-million industry to Queensland… and someone is trying to sabotage the industry but also in doing that, they are putting babies’ and children’s and families’ lives at risk. It is simply unacceptable, I am furious about this.”
While it was earlier speculated that a disgruntled supermarket employee was to blame, Queensland Acting Chief Superintendent Terry Lawrence told a press conference that there is no evidence to suggest this:
“This was an earlier comment by the Strawberry Growers Association, it’s something we don’t subscribe to, we are looking at points of the chain from growth all the way to distribution into the stores, we’re keeping a very open mind.”
Overnight, it was announced that Coles and Aldi have pulled strawberries from supermarket shelves across New South Wales, after a customer returned a tainted punnet to the Engadine Coles in Sydney’s south.
Strawberry brands known to be affected are Donnybrook Berries, Love Berry, Delightful Strawberries, Oasis, Berry Obsession and Berry Licious.
Farmers are pleading with consumers no to let this act of “food terrorism” damage the industry, and have urged people to continue buying berries and cut them up before eating as a precaution.
