Australia’s latest food tampering case began on September 9 at Moreton Bay in Queensland. A young man was reported on Facebook to have swallowed a portion of a needle after biting into a strawberry and was at a hospital’s emergency department. Needles have since been discovered in Australian-grown strawberries, mangoes, apples, and bananas throughout Australia and in New Zealand. More than 100 incidents have been reported.
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Possible motives for food tampering can include extortion, thrill-seeking, driving competitors out of business, and revenge – usually by a disaffected employee.
This latest case has the added intrigue of an old, alleged organised crime connection as Donnybrook Berries at the centre of the contamination problem is owned by Pasquale Cufari, a convicted Mildura drug trafficker with a possible connection to the N’Dragheta organised crime group. Alleged members of the group have previously been closely associated with the Australian fruit trade.
Product tampering is not a new phenomenon. The most notorious modern case of product tampering was in 1982 in Chicago involving Tylenol, manufactured by Johnson & Johnson. Tylenol-branded acetaminophen capsules were laced with potassium cyanide and placed on store shelves. Seven people died, with several more dying in subsequent copycat crimes. The prime suspect went to jail for trying to extort US$1 million from Johnson & Johnson. The event triggered more than 270 copycat incidents.
In February 1997, Australian supermarkets removed Arnott’s biscuits after an extortionist threatened to poison biscuits in New South Wales and Queensland unless demands for the release of a prisoner in a Queensland jail were met. The extortionist was alleged to be Queenslander Joy Ellen Thomas, aged 72 years. Prosecutors dropped the case against her due to conflicting evidence. The incident cost Arnott’s $22 million, but the company was praised for its transparent handling of the crisis.
In February 2000, Dennis Fountain was charged by police with attempted extortion in relation to contamination of Herron brand paracetamol capsules that had been laced with strychnine, poisoning four people. He died before the charges were heard in court. Later that year, Australia’s SmithKline Beecham International recalled its popular Panadol paracetamol capsules after it received a contamination threat.
The investigation of deliberate food contamination involves both police and health departments. One of the first priorities is removing possibly contaminated products from store shelves to protect the public and try to isolate the source of the problem. Determining the source can be made more complicated because saturation media coverage encourages copycat attacks. Even so, the official response to the latest case seemed slow and poorly coordinated.
The copycatting effect was first recognised around 1916 when crimes were inspired by Jack the Ripper. Criminologists soon realized that sensational media coverage played a key role in inspiring other people to commit crimes in a similar fashion. Crime movies are also known to have inspired copycat crimes. Copycats tend to be persons who are easily influenced and lack imagination.
Deliberate food contamination can take several forms. It can be physical, such as needles, glass, or chemicals, such as bleach or poison, or biological, such as bacteria. When a product is obtained from a supermarket, tampered with in another location, and then returned to the supermarket shelf, tampering can be difficult to detect. Goods that are not sold in sealed containers – such as fruit and vegetables – are easily contaminated in-place.
The US Food and Drug Administration has guidelines for consumers to identify product contamination. They are advised to carefully examine all food product packaging and be aware of the normal appearance of food containers, check any anti-tampering devices on packaging - and not to purchase products if the packaging is open, torn, or damaged. The administration recommends that if consumers have any doubts about a product after they open it, they should return it to the store.
Most extortion cases probably never get reported. If a company is hit with an extortion demand for say $10,000 dollars to avoid contamination of its product, it is more than likely to pay up and say nothing about it. Even publicity about doing the right thing and reporting an extortion attempt – as Arnott’s did – is likely to prove costly and drive consumers to other products.
The current maximum penalty for deliberate food contamination is up to 10 years in jail, however, Prime Minister Scott Morrison is seeking to increase the maximum term to 15 years.
Clive Williams is a visiting professor at the ANU’s Centre for Military and Security Law and an adjunct professor at ADFA.
