A 50-year-old woman has been charged over the strawberry needle crisis that spread around the country in September, and is due to face court in Brisbane today.
The accused, identified as My Ut Trinh, spent the night behind bars last night, and is facing seven charges of goods contamination, police report.
In addition to contamination, police allege that there was a circumstance of “aggravation”, incurring a maximum of 10 years in prison.
The charges come two months after safety warnings were issued by Queensland health officials after the discovery of a sewing needle inside a punnet of strawberries.
The discovery led to dozens of other needles being unearthed in apples, strawberries and various other fruits, spreading around all states and territories of the country.
Detective Superintendent Jon Wacker said in a statement on Sunday that “The Queensland Police Service has allocated a significant amount of resources to ensure those responsible are brought to justice.”
“I would like to acknowledge the tireless effort of our investigators” said Mr Wacker, extending his thanks to “members from all other agencies across Australia who played a role.”
The Queensland Strawberry Growers Association welcomed the arrest, stating that “It was a crisis driven by social media and the only real victims were the strawberry growers, and to some extent other Australian fruit growers and exporters”.
While no serious injuries were reported, the incident sparked a massive investigation upon coming to light, which included a man being charged for making a false contamination report to Police, and multiple children attempting to replicate the needle-in-the-hay fruit trick.
Consumers were urged to cut up their strawberries before eating, in order to avoid any unwelcome guests finding their way onto their pallet.
A needle that was found in a strawberry.
Perhaps the most alarming outcome of the entire incident was our fearless leader Scott Morrison revealing that he was making a strawberry curry to help support the farmers effected by the crisis.
More to come.
