No, they did let me off the fine this time, and the apple has been safely incinerated or whatever it is they do with them, so the environment is safe. The fine really is very high, but they could see that I wasn't smuggling with evil intent so they just threatened me a bit and let me go. After all they can't just allow people to wander through with all sorts of stuff and let them off because they're being thick. Ignorance is no excuse, especially with all the signs throughout the airport about it.

I do hope they'd be a little less harsh with someone who didn't speak English, though.