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Spiders in banana bunches .....

47 replies

Comps83 · 04/04/2019 08:12

I just opened a new pack of bananas
Every time I do I get nervous about the fact there may be a spider in there

Anyone actually found one ?

Years ago I found a nest attached to one of the bananas . Dread to think what might have happened if I hadn’t noticed it and they’d hatched .

OP posts:
ToastyFingers · 04/04/2019 20:27

@aposterhasnoname
I'd really like to know!

CaptainHammer · 04/04/2019 21:14

aposter I’d like to know too!

aposterhasnoname · 04/04/2019 22:49

Ok. But you have been warned...

First the fruit is submerged in huge water baths, fully submerged for a minimum of 30 minutes. So anything alive would drown. The bananas are taken out and the hands (bunches) are cut from the stalk, inspected for spiders and packed into plastic bag lined boxes, which have the air removed and are sealed. (so no oxygen) The boxes are loaded into shipping crates and held at a temperature of about 13 degrees which is too cold for tropical species to survive for the trip over here which takes around two weeks.

On arrival here the bags are ripped open and they are placed in ripening rooms where the pressure is equalised then ethylene gas is introduced. The rooms are airtight at this point. The ethylene gas starts the ripening process and co2 is released as a by product making the air in the room unbreathable. After 24 hours-ish the room is vented and opened up, and the fruit produces its own supply of ethylene gas to keep the ripening process going.

Finally the fruit is quality inspected. Ironically given the number of people saying only buy loose, it’s the bagged fruit that is individually inspected when it’s bagged by hand. The loose is fast checked, so only a certain percentage is checked.

Very occasionally dead spiders are found in the boxes. These sent for identification, and if tropical, they are reported back to the farm the fruit originated from and their systems are checked to ensure procedures are being followed to prevent this.

Live spiders are extremely rare, and almost always uk species. The only live tropical spider I ever saw was half dead, and only the size of a 5p piece.

PolarBearDisguisedAsAPenguin · 04/04/2019 22:51

No but I’ve often found webs in grapes.

ethelredonagoodday · 04/04/2019 22:54

My grandad used to have a grocers round in his van, back in the day (probably in the 70s) and he said over the years he found a few fairly startling spiders in his fruit boxes. And he wasn't a man who was easily scared! Terrifying thought! 😬🤣

PotterHead1985 · 04/04/2019 23:27

Ok so I am a serious arachnophob and the thoughts of this give me the willies. Did anyone see the thing on social media late last year I believe it was where the customer was eating one of them ready made salad bowls (with mayo and all already mixed in) from Aldi/lidl and found the heuge spider shudder

Also damn you to hell to the PP who mentioned eating half a maggot. They are the thing that give me the willies the most. Confused

Gingerkittykat · 04/04/2019 23:35

I'm with you, and I refuse to buy packaged grapes too.

Comps83 · 04/04/2019 23:37

Ok . I’ll consider myself damned to hell
My friend once did say to me that I ‘must have been the maggot the last unicorn choked to death on in a former life’
Grin
Wasn’t a pleasant experience for me either

OP posts:
breadzeb · 04/04/2019 23:42

I have never bought bananas in packets.

GummyGoddess · 04/04/2019 23:50

I tend to avoid bagged produce as much as possible just in case of spiders or other bugs. However I tend to mainly buy bananas for DC as DC likes to stick the weigh in sticker directly on the bananas and I don't need any sort of container for them like I do for apples. I do inspect for any sort of nest-y structures though.

Notthebloodymustardcushion · 04/04/2019 23:51

Why oh why did I open this thread??? Shock

MothertotheLordsofmisrule · 04/04/2019 23:54

ethelredonagoodday

My mum regaled me with a story of when my gran used to work in a greengrocers as a young woman (around 1950's) she used to encounter tropical spiders in bananas.

She used to sweep them out the door to make a life in suburban London.

WattdeEll · 05/04/2019 00:25

I worry about spiders in grapes. I would gladly pay more for grapes that have been taken off the bunch to eliminate the hiding places.

CaptainHammer · 05/04/2019 09:32

aposter thank you, that was really interesting! I had no idea they went through such a lengthy process.

AliceRR · 05/04/2019 09:36

I found a live beetle stalking around in a bag of salad once. The assistant in Morrisons said "well at least you know it's fresh"

🙄😂😳

I remember reading about spiders in bananas but I haven’t found one thankfully

I love bananas and hate spiders! 🍌

ethelredonagoodday · 06/04/2019 00:05

@MothertotheLordsofmisrule that's fantastic/terrifying in equal measure!🤣

emelsie · 07/04/2019 09:25

Yes a huge black spider dropped out of my bananas as I opened the bag , this was 5/6 years ago , god knows how it got there as I believe they go through a lot of processing as pp said above , it was the biggest spider I have ever seen in the UK myself but I'm not a spider expert so can't say it wasn't picked up at some point in processing. I definitely inspect the bananas very carefully now .

Comps83 · 07/04/2019 20:24

Was it alive?

OP posts:
MrsXx4 · 07/04/2019 20:37

Not in bananas or any other food product but, I once had a very small but very alive spider with eggs or larvae of some sort in the lid of my shampoo that I had just opened in the shower!!!

Whitelisbon · 07/04/2019 20:54

I used to work for a company who imported various fabrics and materials from various Asian (mainly) countries.
The spiders that came out of the containers were terrifyingly large and scary looking. The warehouse lads just used to catch them in a tub, and chuck them over the wall at the back of the warehouse onto the railway banking Shock
They always had to go the long way through the offices first though Angry

Crunchymum · 07/04/2019 22:14

@aposterhasnoname

That is actually quite interesting.

@Caraboss

To be fair the couple didn't see a spider, it was just some helpful people on FB who said it "looked like" the Brazilian wandering spiders cocoon.

Bet the bananas weren't even from Brazil???.??

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