Coles warns customers after two separate redback finds in produce
Coles has issued an urgent warning for customers to double check their fresh produce after redback spiders were found in bags of grapes.
This claim comes after two customers reportedly found the deadly spider in a fruit bag. One was purchased at Runaway Bay on the Gold Coast and the other from Tweed City, just south of the Queensland border.
A Coles spokesperson told news.com.au redback spiders hiding in crops is an industry-wide issue and its working closely with its suppliers and industry bodies to remove any risk.
“All Coles suppliers are required to keep their fields clean and have pest control systems in place to prevent product contamination during packaging,” the spokesperson explained.
“Coles takes the quality of all our products seriously and all grapes are visually inspected at harvest and packing for any pest presence. Retired policeman Andrew Bell told Nine News his daughter was eating grapes when she came across the “very much alive” spider.
“She was just munching away at them, and she just saw this redback,” he said.
“The last thing you’re expecting is a goddamn redback in the grapes.”
Mr Bell expressed his concerns about what would happen if a child came across such a venomous spider and the potential dangers it may impose.
Mr Marshel said while it “wasn’t huge”, it was “probably big enough to give a nip”.
He told Nine News the spider had survived a wash as well as a night in the fridge.
“This’d be more or less a hazard of the industry with fresh produce,” he said.
“I think it could happen anywhere.”
The reports serve as a warning to Australians to double check their fresh produce, with the issue of finding bugs and live creatures in groceries occurring every summer. It’s also believed Australia’s wet summer caused by La Nina has sparked an increase in insect and animal infestations across the country, experts warned.
Image: 9 News