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It's such a bizarre crime that any motive seems almost inconceivable: in Australia, sewing needles are placed inside the strawberries – endangering those who eat them and causing panic in the strawberry markets as prices rise. s & # 39; collapse.
In recent days, a number of people in Australia have opened boxes of strawberries bought in supermarkets, only to find that the fruits had small sewing needles or pins inside. At least one person claims to have inadvertently swallowed one.
Some Australians have posted photos on social networks showing needles found in their berries. The Australian newspaper reported that there had been at least seven cases reported in three Australian states, raising concerns that copycats are working separately to contaminate berries.
The strawberry industry in the state of Queensland is worth about $ 93 million a year and the government announced this week that it would offer a reward of about $ 70,000 to anyone having information about the culprit of this strange attack of strawberries.
"Someone is trying to sabotage the area but by doing that they are endangering the lives of babies and children and families," said Queensland Prime Minister Annastacia Palaszczuk at a press conference this week. about that."
The Australian Broadcasting Corp. pointed out that consumers have avoided buying fruit for fear of being contaminated with needles, so farmers ended up throwing large quantities of strawberries that they could not sell. The broadcaster also stated that wholesale prices had decreased by about half.
This week, Jamie Michael, director of the Western Australian Strawberry Association, told the Australian television channel that the needle incidents occurred at the height of the strawberry season, disrupting the market at a particularly untimely time.
"With strawberries, you have to keep picking them up," he told ABC. "If you stop picking them up for a few days, they stop producing fruit, so we're trying to deal with this storm and hope things will be better, but it's expensive."
On Friday, Australian police said in a statement that six brands could now be affected, although government officials told reporters Saturday that only three brands had been recalled. A number of grocers removed the berries from their shelves.
In a statement released this week, the Queensland Strawberry Growers Association said it "had reason to suspect" that a disgruntled former employee was responsible for placing needles in the strawberries.
But on Saturday, Queensland interim superintendent Terry Lawrence told reporters that the suspicions were "something we do not subscribe to".
"We look at the points of the chain, from growth to distribution in the stores, we keep a very open mind," he said.
Palaszczuk, the prime minister of Queensland, told reporters that "those responsible could be sentenced to up to 10 years or more for the crimes they commit."
"How could a well-meaning person endanger a baby or child or the health of anyone by doing such a terrible thing?" She asked.
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