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At the beginning of the week a photograph began circulating on social networks of bananas purchased at the Lidl in Rosice, on which there is likely a nest of the most venomous spider in the world, the Brazilian wandering spider.
Spider in bananas
The photograph was published by Mrs. Markéta Klempová Široká, who, together with Petr Matoušek, only noticed the unusual find by the car in the parking lot. Matoušek then went to return the bananas to the South Moravian store. However, Lidl denies that it was a nest of the most dangerous spider in the world.
Brazilian wandering spider
“Today we bought bananas at the Lidl in Rosice. Outside by the car I noticed that there was something on one. Peťa went to return them and the cashier was surprised that we wanted to return them. She returned the money with an eye roll and tossed the bananas under her feet at the checkout. At home I found out on the internet what they probably were, I informed Lidl about what happened and imagine that my returned bananas were already being searched for by the cashiers among the bananas on the shelf in the store and they were found there as well,” Široká described the event on her Facebook profile.
“On the bananas there were probably eggs laid and a cocoon with small spiders about to hatch (their little legs were already crawling out) of the Brazilian wandering spider. The most venomous spider in the world… maybe soon it will not only be killing banana pickers on plantations in South America, who die by the hundreds each year, but also cashiers and customers around the world… And now the question arises whether the boxes didn’t also contain a mother, father and other brothers and sisters,” the customer speculates and is horrified.
“The bananas were certainly not searched among the others in the store, I personally carried the bananas from under the checkout to the storeroom, where they were on a table, apart from the other fruit and vegetables, waiting to be written off. That means what you’re writing here, that they were searched among the others in the store, IS DEFINITELY NOT TRUE! From what the cashiers told me, it is also not true that the cashier rolled her eyes, your friend went to checkout one, where there were lots of people and so the cashier sent him to another, he wanted to exchange the bananas, but unfortunately that is not possible because they are sold by weight and even if he took a bunch with the same number of bananas, it certainly wouldn’t weigh the same = they had to refund his money and only then could he go and take another. Yes, I admit that it’s pretty stupid now, but nothing can really be done about it… unless any bananas stop being imported anywhere. And yes, it is important to inform people about it, but truthfully”, commented the cashier of the Lidl in Rosice, Bára Jelínková, under the posted photograph.
“As soon as another cashier noticed it, the bananas were immediately boiled (the only method that occurred to us) and with them the spiders,” adds Jelínková. Lidl, however, rejects the information that it could be the most venomous spider in the world.
Read the company’s full statement:
“The finding of any spider on bananas in the Rosice store was not confirmed. The bananas that the customer returned in the Rosice store were immediately taken to the store’s backroom by store employees, inspected and disposed of according to recommended procedures. Only an unidentifiable cobweb was found on the banana in question.
Furthermore, the entire shipment at this store was checked; all other bananas were fine. Bananas sold in our stores come from certified plantations. In accordance with European legislation, our suppliers use a minimum of chemical agents during cultivation. Each year we sell several million kilos of bananas in our stores in the Czech Republic; all fruit and vegetables go through several quality checks during distribution.
If customers are not satisfied with any purchased goods, they can always make a complaint in any of our stores,” said Lidl’s press spokeswoman Zuzana Holá. It happened in 2016
