Thursday, PM Scott Morrison said that Australian shoppers need to back farmers besieged by the contaminated fruit scare. The statement came as it had become clear that Singapore's largest supermarket chain had put a halt on all strawberries purchases.
Morrison outlined tighter export controls as the crisis, which has seen pins and needles inserted into fruit across the country, spread further overseas.
The PM detailed several government-backed measures to restore confidence in the industry, including funding to review tamper-proof packaging options, and the recent introduction of X-rays and shrink wrapping on exports.
The industry is reeling as a string of incidents over the past few weeks, many of them a copycat hoax, have unnerved grocery-shoppers and have police struggling to find the original offender.
According to an article on devdiscourse.com, the crisis has spread overseas too. Last week a needle turned up in a punnet of Australian strawberries in New Zealand, prompting authorities there to employ extra screening measures.
