Channel News Aisa: Australian police are investigating after needles were found in grapes bought from a supermarket in Melbourne.
Mr Skender Hasa and his partner Ms Shams Alsubaiy were snacking on a bag of seedless green grapes on Tuesday (Jan 1) after dinner when Ms Alsubaiy, who is pregnant, pricked herself picking up a grape. “When we cut it open, there was a needle stuck through it,” Mr Hasa told 9 News Melbourne on Wednesday. He said the grapes were bought the day before from an outlet of Australian supermarket Woolsworth in their Melbourne suburb of Cragieburn.
Two needles were found after the couple cut open every grape in the bag. Police have confirmed the incident is being investigated, while Woodsworth said in a statement that it was aware of the incident and “will work closely with the authorities as they investigate the matter”.
The incident comes after a fruit contamination scare in September last year when more than 200 cases of needles hidden in strawberries were reported in Australia.
The crisis caused major supermarkets in Australia and New Zealand to take all strawberries off the shelves, farmers to pulp their produce and prompted Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison to label the sabotage as akin to “terrorism”.
In November, a 50-year-old woman who worked at one of the strawberry farms where the tampered fruit were grown was arrested and charged with contaminating goods.
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