Needle found in strawberry sold in New Zealand, the second such incident in the country

A needle has been found in a strawberry in New Zealand, police said on Monday, the second incident to hit the country two months after a contamination crisis erupted in Australia.

The needle was found in a punnet sold in the small South Island town of Geraldine over the weekend, a New Zealand police spokesman said.

The supermarket owner Garry Sheed said he had since taken all strawberries off the shelves but would not comment on whether the punnet was from Australia or New Zealand.

This is the second such incident in New Zealand since the scare was sparked in September, when more than 200 incidents of needles hidden in strawberries were reported in Australia. Some of those cases were found to be hoaxes or false complaints.

A 50-year-old woman who worked at one of the strawberry farms where the tampered produce was grown has since been arrested in Queensland and charged with contaminating goods.