A needle has been discovered lodged in a pear in Melbourne, just days after Queensland police made their first arrest over the original strawberry scare.
Clare Bonser — a make-up artist with ABC News Breakfast — was eating the pear while driving on Tuesday, but wasn’t injured.
“I was just chomping on it and for some reason happened to look down before the next bite and saw it,” she said.
“At first I just put it on the seat next to me and tried to process what I saw, then realised, ‘Oh crumbs’.
“I was completely gobsmacked, I couldn’t believe it.
“It was a little bit terrifying, I started to think what might be on the needle.”
Ms Bonser bought the pear on the weekend from a Woolworths in the suburb of Berwick, in Melbourne’s south-east. She reported the find to another Woolworths store in Seaford, where staff took the pear and needle. A spokesperson for the supermarket said they were aware of the report and were currently investigating.
The ABC has contacted Victoria Police for comment.
The find comes two months after the original strawberry needle scare in Queensland, which was followed by multiple incidents across the country.
On Sunday, Queensland police arrested a 50-year-old woman in relation to one of the original cases.
A Brisbane court has heard the former farm supervisor put needles in the strawberries out of spite.
Queensland Strawberry Growers Association spokeswoman Jennifer Rowling said the widespread crisis had a “crippling impact” on the industry.
“The Queensland police have been nothing but brilliant the whole way through this thing,” she said.
“They had a taskforce of more than 100 police involved so it’s really great to see their efforts have come through.”
More than 100 incidents of needles were reported around Australia since September.
The hysteria forced growers to dump truckloads of stock amid the crisis, sparking the social media campaign #SmashaStrawb to support farmers.
