Stores Pull Grapes After Black Widows Found

Some California table grapes have been pulled from two Northeastern supermarket chains after the discovery by workers and a customer of several black widow spiders.

Stop & Shop, based in Braintree, Mass., said Tuesday that as many as seven of the poisonous spiders had been found in table grapes from two suppliers in Southern California.

The company said all grapes from the two distributors have been removed from its 117 stores in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New York.

Hannaford Bros. Co., headquartered in Portland, Me., refused shipments of red seedless grapes from the Coachella Valley after two spiders were found Monday in packing crates.

The company, which operates 90 supermarkets in New England and New York, said a woman also reported a spider in grapes bought at a store in Maine two weeks ago.

Black widows are about the size of a grape, with a red or orange hourglass pattern on their undersides.

The females are notorious for eating their mates.

In human beings, their bites usually are not deadly but can cause chills, fever, sweating, abdominal cramps, vomiting and pain.

All varieties of seedless grapes were taken off display at Hannaford stores that had received shipments of Countess brand grapes from Nobility Fruit Co.

Nobility is a Philadelphia division of Cal Fruit, a Los Angeles shipper, said Anne-Marie Davee, a spokeswoman.

“We did this to ensure the safety of our customers,” she said.

In a UPI story Sunday, Stop & Shop also identified Countess as one brand affected.

Executives for Cal Fruit could not be reached for comment.

Bruce J. Obbink, president of the California Table Grape Commission in Fresno, said isolated discoveries of spiders in grape boxes have occurred for decades.

But he added that an increased incidence recently is “a direct result of farmers reducing their use of chemical pesticides.”

“Spiders will go wherever there’s a bug supply,” he said, adding that the spiders do not eat or infest the grapes.

Growers and packers have stepped up inspections to spot any free-loading black widows.

Some growers even pay a bounty of $1 to $5 for each spider caught, Obbink said.

Moreover, the commission for the last two years has worked with Harry Shorey, a UC Davis entomologist, to research ways to control the spider population.