Shoppers get a surprise as black widow spiders found in grapes

[Hum]

Aldi Supermarkets pulled all red, green and black grapes from Milwaukee-area stores and promised to beef up inspections after a shopper found a venomous black widow spider in a red grape container at the Wauwatosa Aldi on Thursday.

"At Aldi, we are committed to providing high quality products," the company said in a statement emailed to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel after being contacted by a reporter. "We sincerely regret any inconvenience or concern this situation may have caused."

Yvonne Duckhorn of Milwaukee told the newspaper that she was shopping Thursday afternoon at the Aldi store at 12120 W. Burleigh St. with her 4-year-old daughter when she picked up a clear container of red grapes that was on sale.

She flipped the container over to check for mold and eyeballed the grapes to look for soft ones. Then she flipped the container right side up and noticed the top was popped open a little.

That's when she spotted something moving inside.

"I saw the legs moving frantically," Duckhorn recalled. "I've seen bugs on fruit before, and I thought, 'That is a very big spider.' Nothing I'd ever seen before."

Duckhorn said she became especially concerned when she noticed red on the black spider. She looked around for an employee, and when she didn't immediately find one, grabbed a clear plastic produce bag and dumped the container of grapes inside it. She didn't want to leave the spider for someone else to find, she said.

Duckhorn tried to hand the bag of grapes to a cashier, but when she told the cashier there was a large spider in it, the cashier called another employee, who took the bag away.

"I could tell she was a little nervous," Duckhorn said of the second employee. "I told her the spider had red on it, and to be careful."

Aldi said in its statement that it immediately pulled grapes from Milwaukee-area stores "out of an abundance of caution," and that the company was implementing additional inspection procedures at all warehouses and stores. The company also reiterated its guarantee of a refund to any customer not 100% satisfied with a food product.

Black widow spiders, which build webs in grape vineyards to capture insects, have occasionally been found in supermarket grapes since the mid-1990s. That's when growers came under pressure to cut back on insecticide use because of high levels of pesticide residue on grapes. Black widows that accidentally get picked with the grapes can slip past inspectors.

more

[DocM]

Title says "spiders" but story was one. Still, female black widow venom contains neurotoxins that can kill children, the elderly and the infirm. Most healthy adults will survive, especially if treated. Nasty.

[Hum]

^ Read the 'more'.

[DocM]

Ahh...OK

[Sir Topham Hatt]

I thought Aldi was just in the UK :/

[ozgeek]

Nup. Australia has Aldi as well.

 

And this issue happens in all supermarkets not just aldi. I work for Woolworths in the produce section and see this all the time. That is why we wash and trim to inspect them before shelving them.

[XerXis]

I thought Aldi was just in the UK :/

It's a german retailer you can find all around the world

[tuckeratlarge]

Aldi used to be german for sh*t. However, they changed it to Lidl

 

There are loads of good food items at aldi, although I wouldn't touch their fresh fruit/veg with a ten foot pole.

[DocM]

There are 2-3 in our area. Never crowded, quite small by our standards, and a rather limited selection. You could fit 3-4 Aldi's in one of our larger grocery stores and several times that many in a Meijers (some of which make a Wal-Mart look small.)

[badb0y]

 I wouldn't touch their fresh fruit/veg with a ten foot pole.

 

Why? :P

[tsupersonic]

Quite a common occurrence

[LimeMaster]

I heard this happen in various different locations. :x :/

 

I'm glad they took immediate action instead of waiting.

[Dane]

Done with grapes.

[Atomic Wanderer Chicken]

I don't want to buy grapes again at aldi again now :|

[Hum]

I don't want to buy grapes again at aldi again now :|

Just hold the grapes over the cashier's head and shake them good. :p

[Atomic Wanderer Chicken]

This brings a new meaning to grapes of wrath

[KingCracker]

Got one down the road, cheaper than the grocery store next to it but it is small. 

[Growled Member]

They did the right thing pulling those grapes. I'm glad no one got hurt.

[Hum]

Maybe they could have a bucket of water or something, so customers could drown any creepy critters.