Spiked strawberries have surfaced in Sydney, with a horrified shopper finding needles stuck inside three pieces of the fruit.
The Coles customer found pins sticking from the sabotaged fruit after purchasing the punnet from a supermarket in Engadine in Sydney’s south.
The concerned consumer handed in the infected product to their local police station after they found the three sharp objects inside the berry.
A sixth case of needles being found in strawberries has come to light after a New South Wales mother said she found three pins hidden inside a punnet (one of which pictured)
The product is now set to under-go forensic testing at the local police station and authorities work with the supermarket.
It is believed the consumer had purchased the brand ‘Delightful’ but returned it after a pin was found sticking out of the fruit, the Daily Telegraph reported.
On Friday, six brands of strawberries were flagged as potentially affected by the sabotage.
Victoria and police reported a suspected copy-cat incident on Thursday where a small steel rod was found in a punnet in Queensland
The contamination is believed to have affected the brands ‘Berry Obsession’, ‘Berry Licious’, ‘Love Berry’, ‘Donnybrook Berries’, ‘Delightful Strawberries’, and ‘Oasis’.
These brands are sold in Coles, Woolworths and ALDI across Queensland, New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory.
On Friday, Police asked anyone who finds a needle in their strawberries to take the punnet their local station.
Supermarkets are working with their suppliers to investigate the incident
Coles and Aldi have pulled all brands of strawberries from their shelves in NSW since the latest contaminated punnet.
Despite the nation-wide fear, strawberry farmers have asked consumers to still purchase the product but chop up the fruit first.
‘This is food terrorism that is bringing an industry to its knees,’ Strawberries Australia Inc Queensland spokesman Ray Daniels said.
‘But I would say to people, we produce 800,000 punnets a day and seven needles were found. You’ve got more chance of winning lotto than being affected,’ Newscorp reported.