Police in Western Australia say they are now investigating four reports of needles being found in punnets of strawberries, as the contamination scare spreads.

Yesterday, a man in the town of York, 100 kilometres east of Perth, went to police after he found a needle in his kitchen sink when preparing strawberries for his family.

Today, police have confirmed further reports of suspected contamination from the Perth suburbs of Kelmscott, Spearwood and Bull Creek.

Key points: Needles have now been linked to strawberries in WA, NSW, Queensland, Tasmania and SA

Needles have now been linked to strawberries in WA, NSW, Queensland, Tasmania and SA Authorities are urging people to cut up fruit before eating it

Authorities are urging people to cut up fruit before eating it Growers are battling to contain the crisis as stores begin dumping strawberry stock

Strawberries with needles secreted inside have previously been found at a number of supermarkets in Queensland, New South Wales, Tasmania and South Australia.

A WA-based grower — Mal's Black Label strawberries based in Gingin, 70km north of Perth — had earlier been drawn into the crisis when two of their punnets were found containing needles in supermarkets in South Australia.

In one of these incidents, a seven-year-old girl bit into a strawberry containing a needle but was not injured.

Needles have been found in strawberries across several states. ( Facebook: Joshua Gane )

Needle scare spreads across the country

As more reports of needles surface across the country, the industry is grappling to contain the crisis.

Seven brands of strawberries — Donnybrook Berries, Love Berry, Delightful Strawberries, Oasis brands, Berry Obsession, Berry Licious and Mal's Black Label — have so far been affected.

Supermarket chain, Woolworths, has confirmed that it has withdrawn all the affected brands from sale as a precautionary measure.

The WA Department of Health said people could still purchase locally grown strawberries but, in light of recent events, should cut them before eating.

Push for metal detectors to scan fruit

Strawberry growers around Australia have begun ordering and installing metal detectors to inspect all fruit before it leaves farms, in a bid to reassure markets their fruit does not contain needles.

Neil Handasyde, president of the Strawberry Growers Association of WA, said growers had received requests from major retailers and insurance companies that fruit should be scanned for the presence of needles.

"As an industry we are sure that [the needles] are not coming from the farm, but we're about trying to get confidence into consumers that when they buy a punnet of strawberries, that there isn't going to be anything other than strawberries in there, and they're safe to eat," he said.

"Industry are looking at lots of different ways of tackling this issue, there's been metal detectors purchased and tamper-proof packaging looked at."

He said larger supermarkets in particular were now requesting metal detectors as part of the supply line.

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"Different supermarkets are in different stages of implanting that, but some certainly are in that space, and others are looking at that depending on what their supply chain is and how they're managing it, but certainly that's the way it's looking," he said.

"I put an order for one in and I gather that there will be a reasonably good demand, knowing that they're going into lots of states other than just Western Australia. There is lots of concern right through our industry."

Mr Handasyde said the metal detector he had purchased for his Albany berry farm had cost about $20,000.

He said the contamination scare could not have come at a worse time for growers hoping to rebound from a pest incursion that blighted last year's WA harvest.

"This incident is potentially devastating as it comes at our peak season," he said.

"This is heartbreaking, particularly because the spread of incidents now occurring makes it clear the contamination is unlikely to be happening at the farm level."

Strawberries being dumped at Bullsbrook, east of Perth, as a needle contamination scare hits sales of the fruit in Western Australian. ( Supplied: Jamie Michael )

Federal investigation ordered

Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt has ordered Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZA) to immediately investigate the contamination.

"This a vicious crime, it's designed to injure, and possibly worse, members of the population at large," Mr Hunt said.

"It's also an attack on the agriculture sector — the strawberry sector in particular.

"The police have primary responsibility at state level and they are doing a magnificent job, I commend them.

"But we have also tasked the federal agency to investigate whether there are supply chain weaknesses, whether there are actions that we can take to assist the police, whether there are systemic changes which are required …

"At the end of the day, the job is very very clear — protect the public and keep them safe."

Police are urging anyone who finds contaminated strawberries to contact them. ( ABC News: Shelley Lloyd )

The investigation comes as the scandal spreads to New Zealand, with supermarket cooperative Foodstuff halting the distribution of Australian strawberries.

Foodstuffs said it was confident that no product in its stores has been affected, but said for added reassurance it decided to halt the sale.

Growers dump fruit amid 'vendetta' fears

One West Australian strawberry grower said the person responsible for putting sewing needles into punnets must have a vendetta against the industry.

"Somebody's got a real vendetta, or it's a terrorism act," Wanneroo-based strawberry grower Tony Holl said on ABC Radio Perth.

"Why would you do a thing to destroy a whole industry Australia-wide? That's beyond anybody's belief.

"I mean, if you've got a vendetta against a farm or something, you damage something on the farm, but this is Australia-wide, virtually."

Mr Holl said that as a small grower dealing directly with the public, he had not had problems selling his fruit, but he felt for those who were supplying the big stores and were now being forced to dump stock.

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"I went to the markets and the price went from say $1.50, $2 down to 50 cents," he said.

"It's your livelihood. How more devastating can it be when you lose your livelihood?

"I hope to God they catch them, because in Queensland the season is finishing now but we're just starting in WA, so it's incredible for the industry."

Needle scare may leave a long legacy

Managing director of 1UP Communications Demetri Hughes said the scandal may impact the strawberry industry for some time and it would likely not bounce back this calendar year.

Demetri Hughes says the strawberry industry likely would not bounce back this calendar year. ( ABC News: Tim Swanston )

"Food tampering is really scary to a consumer because it's a risk to their physical safety, and it's one of those things that they've got less control over," Mr Hughes said.

"It's essential that these growers of strawberries advise consumers of their good deeds, their history and all their safeguards they have in place.

"If they remind people of these positive deeds, thank the stakeholders that have been involved in this process, then it is an industry that can bounce back by the next season.

"That is on the basis that they have put safeguards in place and that they haven't deliberately held out any information that people should have been aware of."

Food tampering scandals have rocked Australian brands before, like Herron, Top Taste and Sizzler.

In 2006, Brisbane-based food company Top Taste shut down operations after foreign objects, including a sewing needle and a razor blade, were found in cakes in Queensland, Victoria and Tasmania.

More than 4 million cakes were destroyed in a nationwide recall.

Police believed an incident at a Gatton supermarket where a needle was found in a strawberry punnet was the work of a copycat. ( Supplied )

Also in 2006, restaurant chain Sizzler closed all self-serve salad bars in Australia after rat pellets were found at two eateries in Brisbane.

Sizzler outlets in Toowong and the Myer Centre were contaminated with green pellets and a woman was charged over the incident.

In 2000, a number of people were hospitalised with strychnine poisoning after taking contaminated Herron paracetamol capsules.

The alleged extortion attempt forced the company to withdraw its products from shops.

"In the case of Sizzler, they've barely survived, they've nearly collapsed, there's a few stores only now … they ceased to be the iconic brand they used to be," Mr Hughes said.

"With George Weston foods and their [Top Taste] cakes, there was a recall of a few million cakes and it took five months to do that.

"The difference here with the strawberry farmers and the supermarkets is they immediately notified the consumers."