Food poisoning at Rinehart mine site sparks police probe

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Detectives from the Major Crime squad have been called in to investigate the deliberate poisoning of food at a remote construction site in Western Australia.

A worker at the Roy Hill site in the Pilbara, owned by Gina Rinehart, noticed a piece of fruit had a bad taste and some discolouring on Monday.

He complained to the catering staff who immediately notified police.

The fruit was sent off for analysis and tests have confirmed it had been laced with a dangerous chemical.

Police are yet to reveal any more information about the incident.

“At this point in time it is not known what the intent of the poison was, or if there was a specific target,” police spokesman Samuel Dinnison said in a statement.

Police are trying to determine if the poisoning was an isolated incident or something more sinister.

Roy Hill spokesman Barry Fitzgerald said the worker noticed the unusual discolouration inside fruit he took from the mine site village dining hall.

“The item of fruit has been independently tested by a certified laboratory in Perth with preliminary results indicating that an instance of contamination has occurred,” he said.

“The incident was immediately reported to the police and relevant health authorities, who are now formally investigating the incident.

“Our first and foremost priority is the safety and wellbeing of our people. We have tightened our food security as a means of ensuring no further incidents occur.

“Roy Hill is treating this as an isolated incident, but [a] very serious matter with no further reports of contamination in any other food on the site.

“As this matter is currently being investigated by police, it is a police requirement to keep specific details of this case confidential.”

Roy Hill external affairs manager Bill Hart said the test results came back yesterday and indicated the fruit had been laced with poison.

“We believe at this stage that it’s isolated and it’s the only incident that we are aware of and we are taking it very, very seriously,” he said.

The construction site is about 100km north of Newman.