Is that a grape.....

[ramanth]

or a black widow spider?

http://www.msnbc.com/news/998332.asp?vts=112620031214

Arachnids found in produce in 3 Mass. supermarkets

BOSTON, Nov. 26 — It may make sense for Massachusetts residents to pay extra attention when shopping for fruit over the holiday weekend after reports of black widow spiders hidden among bunches of red grapes in three supermarkets.

THE UNFORTUNATE shoppers included a Boylston woman, who found a black widow spider in some red seedless grapes she was feeding to her one-year-old daughter.

Heide Waite didn’t panic. She put the deadly spider into her children’s bug jar and has kept it there since. “I couldn’t come to terms with killing it,” she said on Wednesday.

Another couple reported they were washing some red grapes in their kitchen sink when they were startled by the arachnid. They bought the fruit at a store in Milford.

“‘It was not very nice looking, creepy in fact,” Terry Muccini told the Boston Herald. “It scared the you-know-what out of me. I said to (my husband), ‘It’s a good a thing I didn’t open (the grapes) because you would have had to pick me up off the floor.’”

And a Maynard woman reported finding a spider in some grapes last week.

All the grapes were bought at Shaw’s supermarkets. The chain said it will increase inspections and start selling grapes loose, instead of in plastic bags.

Muccini told the Herald she holds no grudge against Shaw’s but remains wary of its produce section. “I’m afraid I’m going to find a tarantula in my bananas now,” she said. “Probably not, but you never know.”

Officials says the occasional spider may be due to farmers using less pesticides on their fruit.

Black spiders are among the most venomous in North America, though their bite is generally not fatal to humans.

[Kfamr]

[CamCamPup33]

X

Scary!! and EW!

[popcornbird]

EWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!

[Samantha Puppy]

*barf*

I hate spiders.

[wolfsoul]

OMG! Never again will I eat a grape...

[Karen]

Miss Hoppy prefers raisins over grapes any day! I won't be buying grapes at Shaws anyway, I rarely shop there because the one nearest us doesn't have a very good produce department. When one owns a precious and picky bunny, the produce department quality is of great importance!

[bluekat]

eww eww eww eww eww I hate ALL insects and bugs.

[RICHARD]

It figures...

California takes another one on the chin!!!!

Boycott California produce!!!!

[green_chameleon_girl]

Omg I was eating grapes while reading this! I spit them out.. Lol im not afraid of spiders but thats still creepy

[micki76]

That's just gross.

I abhor spiders and that pic is creepy as heck!

We have BWS's here and they are totally a "leave them alone and they'll leave you alone" type of spider, and actually only capable of causing extreme pain and sickness in most healthy adults despite their deadly reputation. LOL, I know "only cause extreme pain?".

It's very scary that they were in packaged fruit. I wonder if there was an egg sack somewhere at some point where grapes were kept or grown that hatched? That seems the most likely thing, but BWS's usually only like dark warm places like storage sheds and garages where they can hide amongst your tools and in your garden gloves. Seems like fruit would have to be in cold storage which I would have thought would kill them.

Interesting.

[neko1]

Eek! Spiders scare the heck out of me!!! I could have done without the picture It looks like a fairly small spider, though

[Tonya]

Originally posted by Karen
...I rarely shop there because the one nearest us doesn't have a very good produce department...

Obviously not! We don't have Shaw's around here. I'd freak out if I found a spider in my food.

[Dogz]

Uh,

[micki76]

Originally posted by neko1
Eek! Spiders scare the heck out of me!!! I could have done without the picture It looks like a fairly small spider, though

Yep, BWS's are very small. The males are especially tiny.