A New Hampshire woman is warning others to carefully check and wash their produce before eating it after finding what appears to be a black widow spider in organic grapes.“They looked good, and I did open up the container to make sure that it was firm, because I didn’t want mushy grapes,” Michele Lechner said. “I was putting them into a container to take them to work and I was eating a couple, and I happened to look down, thankfully, and I saw a black thing.” Lechner took some photos of the spider and searched on Google to find out kind of spider the black arachnid with an orange belly was.“I yelled to my husband, ‘Can you come in here? I think there’s a black widow in the grapes,’” she said.Black widows are poisonous. Their bites can make people sick and even be deadly, especially to the young and elderly.The spider in Lechner’s grapes, which she purchased at an Epping supermarket, was likely in the packaging since they were picked in California. The find caused concerns for Lechner about her loved ones“My oldest is here, the other two are at camp, but I do have two dogs,” she said. “I’m glad it wasn’t on a grape and I put it in my mouth.”According to the New Hampshire Grocers Association, finding pests in produce has become rare because growers have improved their oversight and farming practices, but some spiders do slip through.“Be cautious about the fruit that you’re buying,” said John Dumais, chief executive officer of NHGA. “Look at it, make sure you wash it thoroughly.”Lechner said that from now on, she’ll be soaking her grapes before snacking.“I just want to make sure that people, especially people that have kids, don’t just, like I do sometimes, just buy grapes, start eating them on the way home,” she said. “I will always drown the grapes in water and make sure that they’re super rinsed.”Michelle has contacted the store where she purchased the grapes.Dumais said the other fruit most likely to have spiders hiding in them are bananas, but he said growers do a thorough job of washing and cooling bananas before shipping to try to keep spiders away.
A New Hampshire woman is warning others to carefully check and wash their produce before eating it after finding what appears to be a black widow spider in organic grapes.
“They looked good, and I did open up the container to make sure that it was firm, because I didn’t want mushy grapes,” Michele Lechner said. “I was putting them into a container to take them to work and I was eating a couple, and I happened to look down, thankfully, and I saw a black thing.”
Lechner took some photos of the spider and searched on Google to find out kind of spider the black arachnid with an orange belly was.
“I yelled to my husband, ‘Can you come in here? I think there’s a black widow in the grapes,’” she said.
Black widows are poisonous. Their bites can make people sick and even be deadly, especially to the young and elderly.
The spider in Lechner’s grapes, which she purchased at an Epping supermarket, was likely in the packaging since they were picked in California.
The find caused concerns for Lechner about her loved ones
“My oldest is here, the other two are at camp, but I do have two dogs,” she said. “I’m glad it wasn’t on a grape and I put it in my mouth.”
According to the New Hampshire Grocers Association, finding pests in produce has become rare because growers have improved their oversight and farming practices, but some spiders do slip through.
“Be cautious about the fruit that you’re buying,” said John Dumais, chief executive officer of NHGA. “Look at it, make sure you wash it thoroughly.”
Lechner said that from now on, she’ll be soaking her grapes before snacking.
“I just want to make sure that people, especially people that have kids, don’t just, like I do sometimes, just buy grapes, start eating them on the way home,” she said. “I will always drown the grapes in water and make sure that they’re super rinsed.”
Michelle has contacted the store where she purchased the grapes.
Dumais said the other fruit most likely to have spiders hiding in them are bananas, but he said growers do a thorough job of washing and cooling bananas before shipping to try to keep spiders away.
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