While you can expect to come across your fair share of debris, dirt, and even minuscule bugs when washing your produce, finding a larger creature can give you quite the shock, especially when it's a venomous spider. 

An Oakville woman whose husband purchased a bag of grapes from Walmart in late June told CTV News that she discovered a massive black widow spider in her produce — and unfortunately, this isn't the first time a shopper in Ontario has found the eight-legged critter in their haul. 

Ginette Guidi told CTV News that she suspected something was wrong with her grapes when she noticed webs all over them, and eventually traced them back to the venomous spider that was crawling across the bag. 

Although uncommon, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency notes that pests — including black widow spiders, scorpions, and iron cross blister beetles — have been found in imported grapes, berries, and leafy green vegetables. 

Black widow spiders are distinctive due to their shiny round body, brown or black colour, and two reddish or yellowish triangles forming an hourglass on the underside of their abdomen. 

The venomous spiders live in most warm regions of the eastern and central U.S., North American deserts, and southern Canada. While they are rarely found in imported grapes, the presence of the arachnids does not damage or poison the grapes. 

"When grapes are harvested, they are carefully examined before being placed into their packaging; however, some spiders may camouflage with the grape vines and escape being found," the agency says. 

"Refrigeration of the product prior to being transported reduces the spiders' activity, making them harder to detect." 

The black widow spider is not normally aggressive but may bite in self-defence. In most cases, the symptoms following a bite are a sharp pain followed by localized swelling and redness. Thankfully, in Guidi's case, no one was injured or bitten by the spider. 

Unfortunately, this isn't the first time a shopper in Ontario has found a black widow spider in their produce. Back in October 2023, a customer discovered the hair-raising creature in a pack of green grapes from President's Choice, although the original poster did not clarify which supermarket chain the grapes were purchased from. 

Someone found a black widow spider in their grapes from a Toronto supermarket🫣🕷️ https://t.co/esgB2IDryM #Toronto #BlackWidow

— blogTO (@blogTO) November 1, 2023

In another case the month prior, a shopper found a dead scorpion in a pack of raspberries from Metro. The creepy critter appeared to be a striped bark scorpion, which is common throughout the U.S. and Mexico where the raspberries came from. 

At the time, a Metro spokesperson told blogTO that these "exceptional cases" sometimes happen with produce grown outside of Canada, which can sometimes escape the "vigilance of the pickers" and the extensive quality controls throughout the chain. 

If you find any of these pests in your food, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency recommends reporting it to confirm the species. After reporting it, the agency says black widow spiders, scorpions, or blister beetles should be "promptly" killed and carefully disposed of, ensuring that a barrier (such as a glove or a fly swatter) is used between the insect and your skin.