A SHOCKED mother found a sac of spiders’ eggs on a banana, after putting it in her daughter’s lunchbox.

Tiffany Stephens said she was in upset all day after finding the sac on the infested fruit — which she had bought from Asda’s Burden Park store in Manchester Road.

Miss Stephens, of Castle Street, at first though the “white fluff-like” substance was mould. But after searching on the internet she discovered it was a spiders’ nest.

The 25-year-old said: “I was so scared I put it in a bag right in the corner of the back garden.

“I kept thinking ‘What if it hatches in the back garden?’

“The nest was about the size of a grape — it was not very big but it had a web all across it.

“When you looked closer you could see little brown eggs and apparently they go brown when they are about to hatch and thousands come out.

“I hate spiders — if there is one in a room I run off. I cannot even kill them but I knew I just had to handle this.”

Miss Stephens — mother to daughters Raisa, six, and Sofia, three — rang the Asda store manager and was told to put the banana in an air-tight container in the freezer to stop the eggs hatching.

She then took it into the store for their pest-control department to dispose of.

She said: “I hate to imagine what would have happened if it was taken to school — if it hatched they would have all had to evacuate.

“I am so surprised to have found one. Raisa does not want to eat bananas ever again.”

Following the incident the store has given Miss Stephens a £20 gift voucher. But she said she has not received an apology.

An Asda spokesman said: “Vigorous checks are made on our bananas to identify and remove any foreign bodies. However, from time to time, webs or silk from spiders or other insects can be missed and sometimes do remain on the fruit.

“We are currently investigating this particular matter.”

Have you ever discovered spiders in fruit? Let us know at Letters to the Editor, The Bolton News, The Wellsprings, Bolton BL1 1AR, or email letters@theboltonnews.co.uk.