Tampered potatoes investigation continues

RCMP in Prince Edward Island continue their investigation into tampered potatoes found in Atlantic Canada.

Sgt. Leanne Butler says police are still conducting interviews looking for a suspect or suspects.

“Interviews sometimes lead to more interviews,” she said. “So if you interview one person and they suggest somebody else that should be interviewed then that will be followed up. So when they do their first interviews sometimes that leads to others so they have a lot of tasking that they're following up on, and the interviews are continuing.”

Butler says all the potatoes found outside of P.E.I and the needles found in them are being sent to the Island for initial examination. They will then be sent for forensics testing. Butler says that will help determine things such as how long the needles may have been in the potatoes.

She says the investigation now involves hundreds of thousands of pounds of raw potatoes both those sent to Cavendish Farms, and those being returned through the Linkletter Farms voluntary recall that police plan to examine.

They've tried one machine to examine the insides of all those potatoes, but it didn't work properly.

“It didn't X-ray exactly how we needed for a small metal object, so we're looking for something that works better,” she said.

Butler says there’s no timeline for the length of the investigation.

“As for a timeline, it's very hard to define that, cause as I said, some things lead to other follow up that needs to be done. And with the large number of potatoes, once the machinery is procured, we'll see how fast it can do it, so a timeline is very difficult to nail down at this point,” she said.

Police are urging anyone who even thinks they may have information about the case to contact RCMP or Crimestoppers.

“As in any investigation that's the thing you don't know,” Butler said. “Some people may be sitting there with some information and not sure if we know it or not so if you feel you know something important, give us a call.”

Gary Linkletter from Linkletter Farms is no longer doing interviews about the tampering, but he did send CBC News an email saying they appreciate the support they've received from Islanders and members of the potato industry.

Linkletter says it has helped them get through this troubling time and words are not enough to describe their heartfelt thanks.