One family found an unexpected and unwelcome free addition to their supermarket shopping this week – a nest of venomous black widow spiders.
The shocking find was discovered inside a bunch of grapes, purchased at an Asda branch in Leamington.
According to The Coventry Telegraph, the family were “about to tuck in to the grapes when they suddenly noticed something crawling inside the bag”.
The unnamed family threw the grapes in the bin, but it was later discovered that the cause for concern was a black widow spider. The spider had made its way in the food cargo all the way from Mexico. Worse still, it had just given birth.
Pic via The Coventry Telegraph
Police turned to the Warwickshire Wildlife Sanctuary to help house the spiders until they could be picked up by a specialist firm.
Geoff Grewcock, who runs the wildlife sanctuary, told the paper that black widow spiders – which are found on every continent except Antartica – can be “very venomous”.
He said: “The police contacted us to help deal with it and we went out there and discovered it was a black widow.
“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.
Pic via The Coventry Telegraph
“They are being picked up by a company who want to verify them and we want them off the premises as quickly as we can.”
An Asda spokesman said: “We take these matters very seriously and have launched an investigation to determine how this particular spider got through our checks.
“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.
“All our grapes are fumigated and cold stored but very occasionally a spider hangs around. We sincerely apologise for any distress caused.”
