Australia moves to revive confidence in strawberries

Australian shoppers need to back farmers besieged by a contaminated fruit scare, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Thursday, as it emerged Singapore's largest supermarket chain had put a halt on all strawberries from Down Under.

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.

"There's work also being done to support communications up through the supply chain into our international markets," he told reporters at a farm in the northeast state of Queensland.

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.

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.

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".

Strawberry sales had declined 10 percent since the reports of sabotage came to light, the food retailer added.

"We continue to monitor the situation closely, and our food safety protocols and procedures are also in place should we need to recall any products, in compliance with the authorities' advisories," a FairPrice spokesperson told AFP.

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.

"Whoever the idiot was who started this, his idiocy has been completely and totally overwhelmed by the good nature of the Australian people who have stood with our strawberry farmers." Canberra has notified international markets that since September 19 Australian exporters are required to give assurance that their strawberry shipment is free of metal contaminants before they are granted a permit.