Incidents in the U.S. and UK involving the discovery of black widow spiders among a bunch of grapes bought in supermarkets are becoming more frequent.
A number of consumers reported that they found the poisonous insect inside their grocery bags, particularly those that contained grapes. In May, two separate cases of spider-laden grapes in Michigan and Vermont were reported. This week, two more cases in the U.S. and UK were added to the list.
Kelly Steinke from Minnesota bought a bag of grapes during the weekend from a Target in Monticello. On Monday, June 1, 2015, she saw a black widow spider inside the bag, and after washing it with baking soda and vinegar, the insect just would not come out. She called Target to inform them of the incident and to ask them to check with their supplier of grapes.
"Target is being very helpful and said they would refund me for all the produce in my fridge that I had just bought," she said. "I use the Red Card, so they were able to confirm which store, and confirm the produce I had just bought to replace it. So Target is awesome!" She adds that next time, she needs to double check produce purchases that originated from Mexico, particularly grapes and bananas, as these are likely to attract the venomous spiders.
On Tuesday, June 2, 2015, a family from Leamington in the UK also found an insect in the bag of grapes they just bought in a supermarket at around 7 p.m. After purchasing the grapes from Asda, the family noticed something moving inside the bag; it turns out that it was spider crawling around their produce. The shocking discovery was made just before the family was about to eat the grapes. They immediately threw the bag away into nearby garbage can. The bag was was later found to contain a black widow spider. Another astounding bit of news is that the spider had just hatched eggs.
Police were present in the Leamington incident. They immediately called the Warwickshire Wildlife Sanctuary in Nuneaton for an appropriate intervention.
"The police contacted us to help deal with it and we went out there and discovered it was a black widow," says Geoff Grewcock from the wildlife sanctuary. "It has given birth now though, so there are more black widow spiders. We have seen a few babies in there but they can have up to 400 eggs." He adds that black widow spiders can be very venomous.
"We take these matters very seriously and have launched an investigation to determine how this particular spider got through our checks," a spokesperson from Asda says. "We are in contact with the customer and would like to reassure all our customers that these types of incidents are extremely rare and that we have robust processes in place for identifying pests including spiders." The store iterates that all their grapes are fumigated and stored in a cool place. Nonetheless, they extend their sincere apologies for any distress the incident might have caused.
Black widow spiders commonly settle in the south and west Americas, and are rarely up north, states the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The poisonous insect can be identified through the red patterns found on its underside, the agency advises.
Photo: karen H.nickname {pooh} | Flickr
