The RCMP admit they knew that needles had been found in French fries at Cavendish farms earlier this month, but say the information was withheld because there was no threat to the public.

The RCMP opened their investigation on Oct. 2 when they were called to the Cavendish Farms plant in New Annan, P.E.I. after needles were found in some of their French fries.

The needles found at the french fry facility were detected by safety protocols. The RCMP would not say how many needles were found.

According to Cavendish Farms, none of the product was shipped to market, and consumers were not at risk.

However, the public wasn’t notified of the issue until a needle was found in a potato in Labrador City, N.L. last week.

“As soon as we got the reports the next day that there was a potato in the public, table potatoes, that’s when we did our news release to make sure the public knew right away,” says Sgt. Leanne Butler.

Needles have been found in a total of a six potatoes purchased at grocery stores in Atlantic Canada – four in Newfoundland and Labrador, one in Nova Scotia and one in New Brunswick. There are no reports of any injuries.

Butler says the public now knows about every case.

“All of what we are aware of has been released at this point,” she says.

A team of investigators is working on the case. They say someone intentionally imbedded the needles in the potatoes.

“This is the first one in my recollection of 20-plus years, so it's not a normal complaint we receive,” says Butler.

All of the affected potatoes came from the Summerside-based Linkletter Farms, which sells potatoes to the public and supplies Cavendish Farms.

Linkletter Farms said it immediately notified the Canadian Food Inspection Agency when it discovered the problem last week. The agency said the company voluntarily withdrew its Link and Market Town brands.

Last week, 14 truckloads of potatoes were taken away and destroyed from the processing plant in New Annan.

“Roughly 800,000 pounds of both product, as well as raw potatoes that were identified from the Linkletter Farm, have either been destroyed, the product has been destroyed, the raw potatoes are now in quarantine with the RCMP,” says Mary Keith of Cavendish Farms.

Keith would not divulge the cost of destroying the potatoes, only saying public safety is all that matters.

The RCMP are asking consumers in Atlantic Canada to check for metal objects in potatoes supplied by the company and call them if any are discovered.

With files from CTV Atlantic's Jonathan MacInnis and The Canadian Press