New fruit scare: Needle found in ALDI grapes
A year on from the strawberry contamination crisis, another warning has been raised yet again as an ALDI shopper found a needle in her freshly purchased grapes.
In a Facebook post shared on Sunday, the woman claimed she discovered a short needle poking through a grape she bought from an ALDI store in the Melbourne suburb of Caroline Springs.
“Please check all your grapes before eating especially if your giving them to your kids!” she wrote. “Police & store has been contacted!”
The post has been shared more than 7,100 times and received over 3,200 comments at the time of writing.
Victoria Police confirmed that it had received the report and was “currently investigating” the case.
“Police have been told a needle was located in a grape bought from a store in Caroline Springs on October 6,” a statement from the police read.
“The community is reminded that anyone found to be contaminating food products can be charged with a serious indictable offence with penalties including up to 10 years in jail.”
Police urged anyone with information to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
An ALDI spokesperson told Yahoo News Australia it was working alongside police to find the person responsible for the offense. “Food tampering, involving the deliberate interference with food is a criminal offence and we work with authorities on all reported incidents,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
Last year, Australia was rocked with a nationwide strawberry contamination scare that began in south-east Queensland in September. More than 180 reports of fruit contamination were made across the country, many of which were found to be fake or copycat crimes.
In November 2018, a 50-year-old farm supervisor was arrested and charged with seven counts of contaminating goods.
Police alleged that the woman, who was working at the Berrylicious/Berry Obsession fruit farm near Brisbane, was planting needles in strawberries in one of the initial cases of contamination.