Major Western Australian produce company Odeum Farms is taking measures to reassure customers that the state’s strawberries are safe, and restore confidence in the industry.
In light of the recent strawberry health warning which began in Queensland, Odeum Farms says that all strawberries sourced from their farms and suppliers are free from all contaminants (eg: needles).
“All Odeum Farms strawberries go through metal detector units at our facility in Canning Vale before being delivered to our customers,” National Category and Farms Manager, Jason Marais said. “With the recent developments, we have also taken additional measures to further prevent the risk of any contamination by installing cameras to monitor the entire process through constant CCTV surveillance.”
Odeum Farms says it also welcomes and encourages all strawberry farmers in WA who are not currently set up to screen strawberries for metal contamination to use their facility, so the industry as a whole can regain the consumer's confidence locally and abroad - where so much of the state's strawberry crops are exported to.
“Odeum Farms believes that regardless of whether we were competitors yesterday or perhaps again tomorrow, for today, the industry as a whole needs to work together and support each other in a collaborative effort to reassure consumers that WA grown strawberries are again safe for consumption,” Mr Marais said.
For a brief demonstration of one of the metal detection units in operation visit: www.youtube.com/watch?v=kU_fGnR7f0o&
For more information, or to set up to do metal detection, contact Odeum Farms: on (08) 9256 8100 or admin@odeum.com.au