Seven Things You Don’t Want to Find While Shopping

Dead Mice

In December 2005, Sarah Smith from Marlborough, Wiltshire (UK) discovered that the loaf of bread she had bought from the Somerfield supermarket contained two dead baby mice, along with their droppings!

The loaf was traced back to British Bakeries Avonmouth, Bristol branch.

Sarah was awarded £ 2,015.00 in damages and the company was fined a further £ 7000.00.

Beetles

In April 2007, Karen Hember from Nailsea (UK) bought a bag of pre-packed salad from her local Tesco store. After eating half of the salad, she discovered a dead black beetle – 5cm long in the bag.

The beetle was later identified as a female Meloe proscarabaeus – or Oil Beetle.

Experts at Bristol zoo said that the beetles were common in the UK and were harmless.

In June 2008, a huge Beetle (11cm long – the size of a hamster) was found in a shipment of bananas which arrived in London from Costa Rica. Entomologists identified the beetle as a male elephant beetle (an endangered species).

Scorpions

In January 2008, employees of a Morrison’s supermarket in Fort William, Scotland, found a two and a half inch scorpion running across the isle of the fruit and vegetable department.

The scorpion was later traced to a crate of bananas which were received from Columbia.

An entomologist confirmed that a sting from this variety of scorpion would not have been deadly, but would have caused extreme pain for up to six hours.

In July 2003, a shop owner in Coventry (UK) found a Fat Tail Scorpion amongst his fruit.

There are many different species of scorpion, many of which are relatively harmless, however, the Fat Tail Scorpion has some of the strongest venom of any species in the world, and a sting would be fatal to children or the elderly, and would make an average adult seriously ill.

Body Parts

In July 2004, Clarence Stowers bought a pint of frozen custard from Wendy’s restaurant in California.

He found felt a lump in the custard as he spooned it into his mouth – Stowers spat it out and run it under the tap to identify it, he was sickened to see that it was the tip of a human finger.

There had been an incident in the restaurant earlier that day where an employee had severed a finger in machinery.

Maggots

In April 2005, two sisters from Pittsburgh, began to tuck into a bar of chocolate. After one bite, one sister felt movement on her tongue, she looked at the chocolate and found that if was crawling with maggots. Master Foods USA are investigating the incident.

Lizards

In June 2008, Tesco supermarket in Colchester (UK) began investigations when a woman (Sharon Bell) reported that she found a lizard in her bag of bananas – which had been imported from Costa Rica.

Spiders: Black Widows

In June 2008, a nine year old girl found a 1.5 inch black widow spider in a bunch of red grapes purchased from a Waitrose supermarket in Northampton (UK). Supermarket bosses subsequently withdrew all Mexican grapes from their shelves.

In December 2005, David Humphrey bought a bunch of red grapes from his local Asda store in Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire, and found an unusual spider on the fruit. He took it to a local pet store who identified the spider to be a black widow.

Spiders: Tarantula

In May 2008, Nicola Hudson claimed to have found a 5cm Chilean tarantula in a bunch of grapes purchased from an Asda store in Suffolk (UK).

Spiders: Huntsman Spider

In June 2004, shopper Paul Wright required hospital treatment after a spider crawled out of a bag of bananas and bit him. the bananas were purchased from a Tesco supermarket in Thanet, Kent (UK) and contained what was later identified to be a huntsman spider which had been carried with the bananas from the Caribbean.

The spiders are not poisonous but caused a severe allergic reaction in Mr Wrights body.

The Tesco’s store offered a £200.00 good will payment in respect of the incident.

In August 2004, Emma Bradbury purchased a bunch of Bananas from an Asda store in Wolaston, Newcastle-Under-Lyme (UK). The bunch contained a female huntsman spider with an egg sac. Two months after buying the bananas, Emma’s found that her house was infested with about 400 baby huntsman spiders. Asda originally sent Miss Bradbury a bunch of flowers and a £20.00 voucher as an apology. After further complaints, Asda sent out a pest control team to put down traps for the spiders.

Spiders: Giant Crab Spider

In June 2005, Philip Travenen was shopping in the Sainsbury’s supermarket in Newport, South Wales (UK), when he reached down to pick up a bunch of bananas. He was bitten on the hand by a Giant Crab Spider (about 2.5 cm long) that had travelled with the bananas from Cameroon. The 65 year old collapsed in pain and faced hospital treatment for over seventeen hours.

Sainsbury’s delivered a free bag of shopping to his home by way of an apology.