A pregnant false widow spider - similar to the one which the couple found in a bag of grapes
Posted on 07/16/2008 1:50:49 PM PDT by Daffynition
It was supposed to be a healthy snack.
But a bunch of cut-price supermarket grapes became poisonous after they were infested by a pair of false widow spiders.
Ceri and Rose Williams suffered numbness, head aches and high blood pressure after eating the fruit they purchased in Tesco.
Mr Williams, 52, and his 45-year-old wife had already started munching on the two £1 bags of fruit when they noticed that something was moving inside.
A quick rummage revealed that two spiders, one alive and one dead, had already made a meal out of the Moroccan-grown grapes.
Mr Williams also spotted a cotton wool-like substance - which turned out to be the poisonous arachnid's nest.
Minutes later, Mr and Mrs Williams, who were on holiday in Newquay, Cornwall, fell ill and drove to hospital where doctors told them the fruit they had eaten had been covered in the spider's toxins.
They were monitored closely for several hours and have now made an official complaint to the supermarket in Wadebridge, Cornwall - which has offered to pay them back the £2 cost of the grapes. spider
A pregnant false widow spider - similar to the one which the couple found in a bag of grapes
Mr and Mrs Williams, of Barry in Wales, have become the UK's tenth and eleventh victims of false widows which experts say are spreading thanks to global warming.
Mother-of-two Mrs Williams, a housewife, said: 'I absolutely hate spiders at the best of times, so this was really my worst nightmare.
'I still feel sick thinking about it and I'm checking everything I eat and washing it carefully too.
'It's made me particularly nervous about eating fruit. My five portions a day have gone out of the window for the foreseeable future.'
Her husband, a carpenter, added: 'We only bought the packets because they were reduced to £1 and when we opened it we saw a dead spider stuck to what looked like cotton wool.
'We now know it was some kind of nest which is completely horrifying. The live one was very lively.
'We just wanted to find out to find out what it was. This whole episode has definitely put me off grapes - and really put me off fruit in general.'
Environmental health officers identified the beasts as false widow spiders - Latin name Steatoda nobilis - cousin of the famous Black Widow.
Mrs Williams said: 'We had three days of detective work while we were on our holiday to find out what it was.'
A spokesman for Tesco, said: 'With all the expertise, checks and will in the world it is not always possible to completely legislate for the natural world. It must have been a real scare.'
But Rose added: ''They've offered a £2 refund, which is a bit cheeky considering we were half scared to death.'
The spiders have now been handed over to Defra who conduct their own investigations into such matters.
False widow spiders are venomous and have fangs that can pierce the skin and are usually found in large numbers in the Canary Islands
Stuart Hine, of the Natural History Museum, said: 'Global warming means that spiders which originate from southern Europe and North Africa and Asia are now more likely to be able to survive in Britain.'
There have been no fatal bites from a false widow in the UK. Doctors say that in the vast majority of cases the bite should be no worse than a wasp sting.
They are the most venomous of the twelve biting spiders found in Britain, though only the females bite.
As well as grapes, the spiders feed on insects and other spiders.
A pregnant false widow spider - similar to the one which the couple found in a bag of grapes
Moral of the story? ALWAYS wash fruits and veggies before ingesting them.
So, they were eating the grapes without washing them first? What morons.
I see they manage to claim this was caused by global warming.
My cousin worked in a supermarket when he was a kid, and found black widows in the apple boxes several times.
Global Warming..causes spider bites...
This is amazing. UK takes in Morrocan grapes with poison, but Washington apples, the safest in the world have to go through hoops and two-steps to be sent to UK. Go figure!!!
AAAAAAHH! I love the smell of Alar in the morning!
Well, we knew THAT was coming, didn't we?
Btw, I agree with the previous posters - it's pretty dumb not to wash fruit or vegetables before eating, particularly one that doesn't have a disposable peel.
I didn’t say “eat organic”, I said wash your food.
They should have complained that the grapes were not "halal", and that they were offended.
The dhimmis at Tesco would have paid off their mortgage for that.
I hate it when I find grapes in a fresh bag of spiders. What is the world coming to?
If the grapes had been from China there would be lead involved.
“victims of false widows which experts say are spreading thanks to global warming.”
BullStalin.
The incidents occur because of globalism and shoddy customs inspections.
(*Hitchcock violins*): SKREEK! SKREEK! SKREEK!
Since when do spiders eat grapes?
And since when do they spit venom on inanimate objects?
And since when does a rather complex organic venom that is normally injected survive contact with digestive acids and enzymes?
My BS alarm is sounding....
Little did I know it hide the deadly black tarantula.
Fortunately, the tally man had great worker's comp. coverage.
"I hate it when I find grapes in a fresh bag of spiders. What is the world coming to?"
Since they have experts citing globull warming as the cause, the United States will be fined $45million a day until the global warming problem is halted.
I found a tarantula in a box of Boo Berrys once.
False, but Accurate!
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