Scared fruit in Australia: needles found in New Zealand strawberries

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EPA

The Australian fear of needles that we find in strawberries has spread in New Zealand after needles have been found in a fruit net in a Auckland supermarket.

The supermarket chain Countdown said it has released a brand of Australian strawberries from the shelves.

There have been more than 100 reports of needle discovery in supermarket fruit in Australia.

Many are considered copy cases or jokes on social networks.

Strawberries from Auckland, originally from Western Australia, were sold last week in New Zealand stores.

"We take food safety very seriously," the company said in a statement.

"Customers can return any brand of Strawberry Choice that they can have at home at Countdown to have peace of mind and get a full refund."

The release says that no disease or injury has been reported in New Zealand, but the chain advised customers to cut Australian strawberries before consuming them.

It added that the strawberry brand affected by this withdrawal "had not previously been the subject of any such issue and had not been withdrawn from sale in Australia".

Fruits emptied

It's been almost a week since the first needle was found in a strawberry fillet bought in Queensland.

Woolworths Australia, the parent company of Countdown, has removed the needles from the sale as a "precautionary measure".

Last week, the Australian government raised the maximum jail term for forgery of 10 to 15 year olds, and a reward of A $ 100,000 (£ 55,000, $ 72,000) for anyone able to provide information.

Producers had to dump tons of unwanted fruit. They fear that fear, which has emerged at the height of production, will hurt an industry's sales by about A $ 130 million a year.

Strawberry prices have already fallen across the country as prices in Western Australia are now below production costs, local media reported.

On Monday, New Zealand's two largest food retailers – Countdown and Foodstuffs – said they had stopped importing Australian strawberries because of fear.