Australian Woolworths is pulling sewing needles from its shelves in a bid to protect customers during the country's fruit tampering crisis.
"We've taken the precautionary step of temporarily removing sewing needles from sale in our stores. The safety of our customers is our top priority," A Woolworths spokeswoman told AAP.
The move comes in the wake of needles being discovered embedded in strawberries, bananas and in an apple.
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Police this week arrested a young boy in relation to needles found in strawberries.
New South Wales police confirmed the incident, which affected 20 punnets of strawberries, was the work of pranksters and copycats.
They believe there are others behind the other sabotage cases, and have offered a $100,000 reward for any information that leads to the conviction of fruit contaminators.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison told 7 News it was a shocking thing to do, and that they should face maximum sentences.
"It's not a joke. It's not funny. You are putting the livelihoods of hard-working Australians at risk, and you are scaring children... and you're a coward and a grub," he told reporters.
Newshub.
