Over in Australia, plenty of people in grocery stores are staying well away from the fruit section, after needles were found in strawberries across all six states. The news first broke on Facebook earlier this month, with at least two men being taken to hospital over abdominal pains suffered from the strawberries.
A young boy was later arrested, say New South Wales police, in connection with the incident, but this only served to prompt copycats to spring up all over Australia. Mangos and bananas were also found to have needles in them, and this fruit contamination panic is turning into a full-blown crisis.
Awareness of these fruit contamination issues has been widely spread over Facebook, but a woman has been forced to delete her social media account after posting about how she found needles in McDonald's fries. But rather than happening in Australia, this took place in neighbouring New Zealand.
According to the NZ Herald, a woman by the name of Ash Te Weri posted to Facebook about her Happy Meal - and she was far from Lovin' It. She said that she tipped out her french fries from the packaging, but when she did, she found a needle hidden among the fries.
Naturally, people were less terrified and outraged to learn of Te Weri's discovery than they were extremely suspicious. They allegedly hounded Te Weri for what they believed to be an attempt to gain 'attention or compensation from McDonald's,' say the Herald. If, they were looking for attention, it worked - when Te Weri contacted McDonald's, they paid attention.
Spokesperson Simon Kenny says that McDonald's New Zealand was alarmed to learn of the needle incident, and they immediately called up Whanganui Police to find out what was going on. Providing the police with CCTV footage and everything else that they needed to carry out the investigation, law enforcement went to Te Weri's home.
It was at that home that police found the solution to the mystery, but it was a solution that only raised more questions.
In Te Weri's home, they found a distinctive pack of needles, but crucially, one of the needles was missing. Confident that this missing needle had indeed been found in the McDonald's fries, the investigation was closed, but Detective Inspector Ross McKay says that this was all just a big misunderstanding, rather than some attempt at gaining attention.
"The woman did the right thing reporting this incident, as did the business. There was no malicious intent here," McKay confirmed, and confident that there was no foul play going on, Te Weri has since deleted her initial Facebook asking parents to be more aware of their children's Happy Meal orders.
Last week, a reward of around $100,000 AUD (£55,000) was set for anyone who could provide more information as to how so many of Australia's fruits were being inundated with needles, with farmers now employing metal detectors to help them avoid similar issues in the future.
