It was just another normal day for the Layton family in Bristol. Maria Layton's husband had just brought a bag of bananas from Tesco.
Maria's daughter Siri, aged 6, wanted a banana so she opened the bag and was frightened by what she saw inside. There were spiders inside the bag of bananas, and these were no ordinary spiders.
The bananas in Tesco are exported from Costa Rica, which also happens to be the home of the world's most dangerous spiders. One of them is the Brazilian Wandering Spider, aka, the Banana Spiders. Their Greek name means "murderess".
These spiders are aggressive and their venom can often lead to death or serious injury, including a 4 hour long painful erection.
According to the Bristol Post, Maria said "My husband bought the bananas from Tesco. They had been in the house a whole day before I ripped the bag open.
Siri asked for a banana. The first banana had a funny bit on it, so I got another one for her and that was when I found the massive spider cocoon.
There were spider webs on other bananas too. I was so scared - I don't like spiders at the best of times, but have read about Brazilian Wandering Spiders - and was very frightened about the potential threat to my family.
The spider cocoon started to unfurl so I put it in a sealed box and put it in the freezer as I read that it is supposed to kill them."
After putting that spider in the freezer, she immediately called the Tesco customer support, who then told her to bring the bag of bananas back to the shop where she bought them. According to Maria, this was a bit careless from Tesco's side because they failed to see the real threat to her family.
After posting the picture on Tesco's Facebook page, they told her to send the wrapper so that they can get the barcode to refund her.
She tried calling the Food Standards but that was in vain as they said that it wasn't anything to do with them.
