A woman in Pennsylvania found a deadly black widow crawling on her grapes. The woman according to The Huffington Post, Yvonne Whalen, saw the spider while she was washing the fruit and immediately dropped the colander in the sink. The spider is deadly and has also been found on grapes in supermarkets in Minnesota, Michigan, Missouri and Wisconsin.
"Yvonne Duckhorn was inspecting a container of red grapes at a Aldi supermarket in Wauwatosa, Wis., earlier this month, when she spotted something peculiar," reported The Huffington Post.
She took the container in a plastic bag and gave it to an employee and told them that she saw a red marking on the spiders stomach which is a characteristic of the black widow. After that the chain removed all grapes from its stores in the Milwaukee area.
Fox News reported that two more black widows were found in an Aldi store in St. Louis in October and September.
"The spiders, which are the most venomous spider in North America, move into the grape fields to feast on other bugs during harvest. Food experts say ever since the mid-1990s, food growers have had to cut back on insecticide and there's little to deter them. Also, their size and shape can make them hard to spot amidst dark red grapes, so the critters get by the inspectors," reported Fox News.
The Huffington Post reported that someone also found a black widow in a bag of grapes purchased at a Brighton, Michigan Kroger store. "I looked in the grapes and there was a black widow staring right at me," said Callum Merry to ABC affiliate WXYZ-TV.
"Small children and the elderly are most susceptible to the black widow's venom. So if you encounter a black widow, you are advised not to handle it, but instead capture it in a container and set it free outside," reported Fox News.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
