It comes after a student from Wagga Public School found the sewing tool in the fruit she had taken to school on Wednesday. 

Wagga police on Thursday said the punnet of strawberries, containing the tampered fruit, had been confiscated and the incident was being investigated. 

It was the second incident reported across the Riverina this week, following a close call at Yanco Public School on Tuesday.

Both students were unharmed, according to officers, who reminded parents to cut up their children’s fruit before giving it to them to eat. 

Sergeant Nick Brunyee, of the Riverina Police District, said local officers had joined the country-wide investigation and were working with interstate police to end the nightmare of fruit tampering across Australia.

Sergeant Brunyee said a number of contaminated strawberries and isolated incidents of other sabotaged fruit were suspected to be the work of copycat criminals.

He said it was unknown whether the Wagga incident was the work of someone mimicking the scandal or if it was part of the original offence in Queensland. 

More than 100 cases have been reported across the country since last week, resulting in the mass dumping of strawberries and widespread fear. 

While strawberry sales appeared unaffected in Wagga, according to fresh fruit markets, Wagga Fruit Supply manager Robert Papasidero said the mass fear may yet affect NSW farmers, whose crops would yield in coming months. 

Wagga Public School parent Kirst Lloyd said despite the shock find at her child’s school, she would continue to buy strawberries to support growers.

“I’m angry and sad for our farmers,” Ms Lloyd said. “They are are the ones suffering.”

On Wednesday it was announced Woolworths had pulled all sewing needles from the shelves as a safety precaution, according to Fairfax Media. 

"We’ve taken the precautionary step of temporarily removing sewing needles from sale in our stores," a spokeswoman said. "The safety of our customers is our top priority."

In response to inquiries, Coles announced it had no plans to follow suit. 

The supermarket giant said it would instead continue to focus on making sure its product was effectively screened, before it hit shelves.