Farm dealing with two suspected potato tampering cases

Linkletter Farms Ltd. in Summerside P.E.I. is now dealing with the aftermath of two suspected tampering incidents involving their potato products.

On Wednesday, a note on the door of the farm tells customers about the recall put in place after a needle was found by a man from Wabush, near Labrador Citywhile he was peeling spuds for dinner.

Bruce Budgell was peeling potatoes for a Jigg's Dinner when he discovered the 2-inch-long sewing needle.

I struck one potato, something steel rubbing my finger, when I peeled it and come to discover it was a top off a needle. And I pulled it out to see what it was a sewing needle about two inches long, he said.

Gary Linkletterreceivednews a metal object had been found in a second potato, this time the bag was bought from a store in Carmanville, Newfoundland.

The company president said it's confirmation a voluntary recall was the right way to go.

Minutes after we heard of the news the first time we said we can't have confidence in our product anymore. That's when we issued the recall, went in to CFIA and said we need a recall, he said. And so that looks to be the prudent thing to do... and the next part will be to find the source or find equipment to take that out of the product.

Linkletter says they're looking into metal detecting equipment.

After confirmation it was a needle that was found, he says he doesn't believe it came from their machinery.

First it was a plastic bag that these were found in, it's not sewn, it's heat sealed, he said. We do have paper bags that we sew, the needles though are quite different. They have a large shank that goes up the machine to hold them.

The P.E.I. Potato Board hopes this won't affect people's trust in potatoes, saying the industry's food safety record is excellent. Most growers, including Linkletter Farms, take part in a food safety program called Canada Gap.

Police from the RCMP major crime unit, forensic identification unit and East Prince detachment are all involved in the investigation.

They're being very, very thorough, and they're just looking at everything possible just going through how we do it here and talk to some of staff and just looking at all possibilities, Linkletter said.

He said the company's focus right now is on its customers' safety.

It's stressful, he said. But its not what happens to you, its how you deal with it.