Morrison outlined tighter export controls as the crisis – which has seen pins and needles inserted into fruit across the country – spread further overseas. Last week a needle turned up in a punnet of Australian strawberries in New Zealand, prompting authorities there to employ extra screening measures. And on Thursday, NTUC FairPrice, Singapore’s largest supermarket-chain operator, confirmed it had put a halt on all strawberry imports from Australia from September 24 as a “precautionary measure”. But while many farmers have been brought to the brink, it has also set off a public backlash against the saboteurs, with Australians buying strawberries en masse. “That shows you what’s happening in Australia: Australians coming together and responding to a call to say, ‘Let’s get behind our strawberry farmers,”, Morrison said.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer September 27, 2018 08:48 UTC