Brazilian Wandering Spider Eggs In Bananas And Other Nightmare Insects And Animals Found In Food
A British woman got more than she bargained for when she bought a bunch of bananas from a Tesco supermarket. Maria Layton was the lucky winner of a Brazilian wandering spider nest inside a banana, which comes with years of nightmares and avoidance of bananas. Layton may need to find a source of potassium elsewhere, but this is not the first time some terrifying insect or animal was found in food.
Layton's plight was reported by the Daily Mail based on post a she made on Facebook. The Daily Mail's story includes photos of the banana and Layton said the spider eggs began to hatch after she opened the bag at home. "I was so scared -- I don’t like spiders at the best of times, but have read about the Brazilian wandering spiders and was very frightened about the potential threat," Layton said. She said she thought the egg nest looked like that of a Brazilian wandering spider, which means there is a possibility she did not find the venomous arachnids in a bag. Whatever Layton found, spiders and bananas have a history.
Brazilian wandering spiders are one of the most venomous spiders on the planet, according to Live Science. The arachnids can be found throughout Latin America including Brazil and Costa Rica.
Brazilian wandering spiders have been cropping up in British bananas for a few years. In 2014, Abby Woodgate encountered the deadly arachnid after purchasing bananas from another Tesco supermarket. Woodgate tried to vacuum up some eggs that fell on her kitchen floor, but had to burn anything that was in contact with the eggs to ensure no further surprises.
While the media is having fun with the "Viagra spider" angle -- because the bite of a Brazilian wandering spider can cause a four-hour erection -- we're too concerned about the whole possibility of finding a spider in something we just purchased. Spiders in fruit are not exclusive to the U.K. as there are reports of black widow spiders found in grapes in America.
Modern Farmer accurately portrays several incidents across the U.S. as something out of a horror movie. A woman in Pennsylvania, a college student in Michigan and a family in St. Louis found black widows in their grapes.
One reason why consumers are encountering spiders more often in their produce purchases is because instead of using pesticides, produce suppliers and sellers are using "natural predators" to deal with unwanted pests. So, to get rid of crop-destroying insects, Tesco and others are deploying a venomous arachnid army.
"From a pest management perspective, spiders are beneficial. They eat a lot of pest insects,” Rick Foster, a professor of entomology at Purdue University who studies arthropod pests of fruits and vegetables, said to Popular Science.
If that's not enough, snakes have also been found in cereal boxes. A Sydney man found a python inside his box of cereal this week, while a boy found a snake in a box in 2005.
© Copyright IBTimes 2024. All rights reserved.