[ISL] On the sabotage of potatoes of Linkletter Farms, Prince Edward Island

[rfmcdonald]

The National Post's John O'Connor in his article "Potato sabotage traced to P.E.I. town, where everyone seems to have a theory about who did the crime" describes an unsettling situation.

Sylvia Doiron knew the police would be coming to question her eventually. Where else were they going to go in Summerside, P.E.I., to speak with an expert about darning needles, the instrument at the centre of a major RCMP investigation that has folks around this pleasant seaside community of 15,000 wondering whodunit and why?

“It is a real mystery,” says Ms. Doiron, the owner of Pins & Needles, a sewing shop on Water Street. “It has been the talk of Summerside, because Linkletter Farms are a very well-known business around here, and the family is very well-liked. These are good people. Who would do such a thing?”

Nobody knows. Not the locals, although everybody seems to have a theory about the crime, and not the police, although they continue to press ahead with the investigation. But the facts are these: on Oct. 2 an undisclosed number of sewing needles were discovered in potatoes by workers at the Cavendish Farms plant in New Annan. Production was immediately halted, and the sabotaged spuds were traced to Linkletter Farms, one of the island’s top producers and a family operation with roots in Summerside dating from 1783.

Several additional Linkletter tubers, stabbed clean through with darning needles, surfaced in bags purchased by consumers at stores throughout the Atlantic provinces, triggering a massive recall of 800,000 pounds of potatoes. An X-ray machine set up in a police-secured potato storage facility was used to screen the suspicious spuds. The technique proved inadequate. Metal detectors were then acquired and farmers, working after hours, hour after hour, ripped open and swept clean countless bags of potatoes; a process that continues.

Meanwhile, 10 needles, not including those discovered at the Cavendish plant, have been found since Oct. 2 and sent to a forensics lab for further analysis. The potato industry is offering a $50,000 reward for any information leading to the arrest and conviction of the individual, or individuals, responsible for the crime.

The blame that is being cast on environmentalists, who--some hint--might have done this in retaliation for environmentally problematic deep-water wells, seems like the sort of thing that would be done in a situation like this. I'd be surprised if this was the case, for the reasons that environmentalist Sharon Labchuk states in the article. At this point, no one knows.

CBC Prince Edward Island carried a report on the reward that went into some detail about concerns that the brand of Prince Edward Island potatoes might be hit negatively.

The potato industry in Prince Edward Island is coming together to offer a reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for recent potato tampering incidents.

The Prince Edward Island Potato Board said in a release Monday, up to $50,000 will be available in a fund recently set up.

[. . .]

Greg Donald is general manager of the potato board. In the release he stated, "For the health of Linkletter Farms and the entire industry, we know we all wish to see this incident resolved as quickly as possible."

Donald said people in the industry wanted to do something to help and that he believes consumers are viewing the tampering of Linkletter Farms potatoes as an isolated incident.

Donald said to the best of the board's knowledge, the incident hasn't had a wider impact on potato sales. He says the board has hired a consultant to see if the industry can further improve safety.