Chilling twist after customer finds razor blades in supermarket pizza dough
A man has been arrested after a customer found a number of razor blades stuffed inside pizza dough they purchased at a supermarket.
Police said they received a call from Hannaford supermarket after the customer discovered the pizza dough had been tampered with after purchasing it on October 6 in the US state of Maine.
The supermarket launched an urgent investigation into how the razor blades came to be implanted in the Portland Pie Pizza dough and identified a person tampering with the packaging of several items on store security surveillance footage.
Saco Police Department said in a statement it identified the alleged tamperer as 38-year-old Nicholas Mitchell, a former associate of the It’ll Be Pizza company that manufacturers the dough for Portland Pie Pizza.
Police appealed to the public to be on the lookout for Mr Mitchell before he was arrested and taken into custody on October 12 (local time).
There are concerns other pizza dough products could also contain the dangerous item, and the supermarket issued a recall on October 11 for Portland Pie cheese and fresh dough products.
“After what is believed to be further malicious tampering incidents involving metal objects inserted into Portland Pie products, Hannaford has removed all Portland Pie products from all store shelves and has paused replenishment of the products indefinitely,” a supermarket statement said.
“Customers who purchased Portland Pie pizza dough and Portland Pie cheese sold in the deli at any Hannaford store between August 1, 2020, and October 11, 2020, should not consume the products and may return it to the store for a full refund.”
Hannaford supermarket said it continued to cooperate with the authorities investigating the incident.
Portland Pie Company wrote on Facebook the incident had no direct connection to the Portland Pie Company restaurants and confirmed the alleged suspect was an ex-employee of It’ll Be Pizza.
It’ll Be Pizza is working closely with authorities, and the motivation behind the alleged incident has not been revealed.
No injuries all illnesses were reported in connection to the incident.
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