A Queensland woman has been charged over the strawberry needle crisis that forced supermarkets to pull fruit from shelves and farmers to dump it by the truckload.
My Ut Trinh, from Caboolture in Brisbane's north, was charged on Sunday evening with seven counts of goods contamination.
Police say one occasion of aggravation contamination will be alleged, meaning the 50-year-old woman will face a maximum of 10 years in prison if convicted.
Ms Trinh was arrested amid a months-long, multi-jurisdiction investigation headed by Queensland police after the discovery of needles hidden inside a punnet of strawberries on September 12.
"The Queensland Police Service has allocated a significant amount of resources to ensure those responsible are brought to justice," Serious Crime Detective Superintendent Jon Wacker.
She is expected to front Brisbane Magistrates Court on Monday.
The needle crisis spread to all six states and other fruit, with copycat incidents and a statewide campaign by the Queensland government to encourage consumers to back farmers by buying their produce.
The 50-year-old is taken into the police watch house. Source: AAP
QSGA said it was pleased an arrest was made and called for copycats to face charges too.
"It was a crisis driven by social media and the only real victims were the strawberry growers, and to some extent other Australian fruit growers and exporters," it said in a statement.
