Needle in mandarin is third case of fruit tampering in three days

Sabotaged fruit is again being found, heaping further pressure on supermarkets struggling to ensure shoppers are COVID-safe.

South Australian police are investigating another claim of fruit tampering – the third in as many days, this time involving a needle in a mandarin.

Earlier in the week, police released details of other incidents, including needles in a punnet of strawberries and in an avocado, and thumbtacks in a loaf of bread at a Woolworths outlet in Golden Grove in SA.

A thumbtack was also reported to have been found in a punnet of strawberries at a Foodland supermarket in Goolwa.

Police said they were “appalled by the reckless actions” of those responsible and SA Police Commissioner Grant Stevens vowed to “come down as hard as we possibly can” on those responsible.

“We will dedicate resources to crush this stupidity as quickly as possible,” he said.

“These acts are incredibly malicious and we’re doing as much as we can to identify people who are contaminating produce in our supermarkets.”

Commissioner Stevens said he was amazed that such incidents were re-emerging when businesses were trying to recover from the impact of COVID-19.

A Woolworths spokesperson said the supermarket had launched an investigation and was  inspecting all mandarins to ensure no further contamination.

The Australian strawberry industry was devastated by a wave of needle and sharp object tampering incidents in 2018 in South Australia, Tasmania, Queensland and New South Wales.

4 comments

What the hell is wrong with people -- the world has gone stark raving mad!

What the hell is wrong with people ...

Yes, PlanB ... I often think the same myself.

Exactly right, PlanB, these people when court should be admitted into a psychiatric hospital.

Agree but I feel its more a case of greed and the 'me' first sydrome. So sad & its partly the fault of a society and  complusory community service is desperately needed  e.g. SES, RFS, etc

I fail to see what society or greed has to do with the individuals, except, it could be individuals trying to disable our society. Catch them and chop their bloody hands off, prison would be good for them.

I seem to recall the last time it was first done by an individual who felt injured by her employer & so the 'me first'  was 'justified'. In other times & places I the greed was in the form of blackmail. Foodstuffs in particular were effected & that lead to the anti tampering packaging. 

I wonder why people do things like that? Have they ever been asked? I only ever hear it is happening but never get any news as to why, what drives these people? It would be good if someone did some research about what drives people to do anonymous malicious acts.

4 comments



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