Yet Another Reason You Will Want to Check Your Produce Before You Leave the Store

If you thought the venomous spider-infested bananas story was bad, this will leave no doubt in your mind that you have to thoroughly check produce before leaving the supermarket.

"I grabbed some grapes out of the fridge and noticed it was all webby," 20-year-old Calem Merry told WXYZ-TV. "I looked in the grapes and there was a black widow staring right at me."

This black widow spider was found in a bag of grapes purchased by a family in Michigan. (Image source: WXYZ-TV)

The grapes had been purchased at a Kroger grocery store in Brighton, Mich.

"My brother wanted to release it into the wild," brother Alex Merry said. "But I had to physically push him away, take the grapes and put them into a bowl of water to kill it."

Hear more about the family's shocking discovery in WXYZ's report:

The boys' younger sister, Reebekah, said she's glad Alex killed it. Originally from England, the 14-year-old said she hasn't ever worried about poisonous spiders and likely would have picked it up and put it outside if she had found it.

"That's what we usually do," she said.

The Kroger store where the grapes were purchased gave the family a $25 gift certificate and said it was grateful no one was hurt.

"Kroger is obviously concerned about the well being of our customers," Kroger said, according to WXYZ. "We  are extremely grateful no one was harmed in this incident. We recognize the customers reached out to our store team.  The store team addressed their concerns with the customer. Kroger works extensively with our growers to insure there are inspection processes points in place to make sure we are providing safe and quality food at all times. We also encourage customers to practice safe food handling if this is ever a concern to contact your local Kroger store."

Black widow spiders' toxic venom can cause muscle contractions, sweating, tremors, shortness of breath, fever and increased blood pressure. Symptoms can continue for several days after the initial bite.

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