Woman discovers redback spider in bunch of broccoli purchased at Woolworths

WOOLWORTHS has been forced to withdraw broccoli from its shelves after deadly redback spiders were discovered hiding among the vegetables.

IT’S every vegetable hater and arachnophobe’s worst nightmare — spiders hiding among your greens.

Supermarket giant Woolworths has been forced to pull broccoli from three suppliers off its shelves after deadly redback spiders were discovered hiding among the vegetables.

It is understood the withdrawal affects stores across Queensland and New South Wales.

In the first case, a Gold Coast woman got a little bit more than she bargained for when she washed some broccoli on Saturday night.

She discovered a redback spider lurking in the veggies.

Dee Nott bought the broccoli earlier that day from the Woolworths supermarket in Runaway Bay.

The shocked woman was so upset about her close encounter with the poisonous critter that she took a photograph of it and posted it on Woolworths’ Facebook page.

Dee Nott’s Facebook post.

“Hi team Woolworths. I just had a nasty surprise — a live redback spider in my broccoli purchased today at your Runaway Bay store,” she says in her post.

A close-up of the spider.

She placed the venomous spider in her freezer for the night and had planned to return for a full refund the next day.

“I am lucky it did not bite me as I washed it. I plan to take in the critter (now frozen) and my receipt tomorrow. I thought I should mention it in case there is an infestation,” she wrote.

Woolworths responded to Dee asking her to privately message them ASAP about the matter.

“We’re very concerned about this, Dee, and take incidents like this very seriously,” Woolworths responded.

The incident follows a report in the Gold Coast Bulletin last November that there had been an “explosive 15-year spike” in the redback population across southeast Queensland.

In the second case, Queensland man Maurice Wilson said he was cutting up the vegetable, which he purchased from a Woolworths in Nambour, Queensland, when a redback lunged at him.

He contacted the store and was given a $20 giftcard but was later given another $30 voucher from head office, Fairfax reported.

A Woolworths spokesman said supplies of the vegetable would not be affected by the withdrawal and the retailer was currently in contact with customers who “brought concerns to our attention.”

“Supply of this batch of product has been temporarily suspended while we work closely with three of our Queensland suppliers to ensure we are receiving the best-quality produce.”

This article originally appeared on Kidspot.