Fresh fruit contamination scare as girl, 4, finds needle hidden in orange

There are fresh fears that the fruit contamination scare may not be over after a four-year-old girl discovered a needle hidden inside an orange bought in Sydney.

Maddie Sheridan, four, was about to eat the fruit on Monday when she found the metal object stuck inside an orange that her mother had bought from Woolworths, according to Seven News.

Horrified, her mother immediately took the fruit back to the Casula store in Sydney’s south west, where the supermarket reportedly confirmed the find and notified the police.

There are fresh warnings to families to continue to be cautious with fruit. A Casula family discovered a needle in an orange purchased at @woolworths. #7News pic.twitter.com/pNaEhNb294

— 7NEWS Sydney (@7NewsSydney) November 1, 2018

“We’re shocked. We feel violated,” the youngster’s mum told the news outlet on camera.

Police will now investigate the incident, as it’s claimed the orange may have been in storage for several weeks.

A Woolworths spokesperson told Starts at 60: “At Woolworths, we treat product safety very seriously. We’re aware of the customer report and investigating the matter.”

It comes several weeks after a contamination crisis spread to the very heart of the nation and devastated strawberry farmers in Queensland, who were forced to dump truck-loads of produce after several customers discovered needles hidden inside fruit.

Scott Morrison later declared harsher punishments for anyone found to be involved in the sabotage, including copycat crimes.

He described those involved at the time as “cowards” and “grubs” and said new laws would target the reckless behaviour.

“Some idiot, for his own reasons, or her own reasons, has engaged in an act of sabotage, it would seem, that has put all of that at risk for these people just out there having a go,” he previously said.

“And not only that, mums and dads and their kids have been put in the position of having a real concerns and, indeed, fears. It’s not on.”

Read more: Schoolgirl admits to planting needle in strawberry

Morrison increased the prison penalty from 10 to 15 years for anyone engaging in sabotage similar to the fruit scandal. In addition, anyone who claims fruit contamination as a hoax, even if they are joking around on social media, could face a decade behind bars. He said the government was taking the issue as seriously as terrorism or fighting child pornography.

Have you been affected by the fruit contamination scandal?