Investigation after mother discovers '˜cobwebs' and '˜spider eggs' on Tesco bananas

A mother has been '˜put off bananas for life' after finding '˜cobwebs' and '˜spider eggs' on a bunch whilst preparing her children's lunch.
'White marks' spotted on the bananas'White marks' spotted on the bananas
'White marks' spotted on the bananas

Angela Wickens, from Burgess Hill, bought a packet of Tesco’s Goodness fun-size bananas from her local store in Hammonds Farm, Jane Murray Way.

The 29-year-old said she planned to put the fruit in her children’s lunch boxes but after opening the packet the night before she said she made a ‘scary’ discovery.

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She has complained to Tesco, which said it was investigating.

Angela said: “I opened them and got them out of the packaging ready to put in the kids’ lunch boxes for Monday.

“When I opened them straight away I noticed a white mark on the front of the banana.

“As I turned the bananas over there were other white bits between them.”

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She added she believed the white marks could have been spider or insect eggs after finding cobwebs between the stems of the bananas.

“I put them in a carrier bag and put them straight outside the front door,” she said.

“It’s a bit scary. Could you imagine if there was a spider in there for some reason.

“I couldn’t think of anything worse than a kid opening a banana and seeing that.”

Angela said she went back to the store the next day.

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“They called the manager of the fruit and veg department and I showed him them.

“He said he could replace them. I said that’s not good enough I have been put off bananas for life.”

She said the store gave her a £1.39 refund and a five pound gift voucher but she was not happy with the customer service.

She added: “I think Tesco should have been a bit more helpful about it.

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“I think if there is a complaint about food and it is about finding cobwebs they should deal with it a bit more seriously.”

She said she was also unhappy the bananas did not have a used by or best before date on the packaging.

Tesco told the Middy it was investigating the complaint.

A spokesperson for the national supermarket chain said: “We sell millions of bananas every week and our growers work hard to clean and inspect all the fruit carefully. However, given the freshness of our produce this sort thing can happen on very rare occasions.

“We will update Mrs Wickens on the findings of our investigation.”

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