Man 'finds world's most venomous spider' in Bromley bananas

When Joe Stein, 37, opened the packaging, purchased from Sainsbury's, he discovered a 2in "dark mass" hanging from the fruit, and was terrified to see it twitch.

He threw it into the bin outside, but after steadying his nerves retrieved it, looking up the hairy specimen. His researched suggested it was a Brazilian wandering spider.

Brazilian wandering spiders belong to the genus Phoneutria - which means "murderess" in Greek.

The bunch of bananas (SWNS)

They are one of the most venomous spiders on Earth and their bite can be deadly to humans.

Joe, from Beckenham, said: "I sort of had to refocus my eyes so I could see his big bony, hairy legs.

"It was a bit shocking!

"Obviously I was shocked, my girlfriend was a bit shocked, finding out it was a venomous spider if alive.

"Luckily I think it was dead, but it was enough to make us both jump and feel on edge.

"I want to make people aware and to be careful."

The taxi driver had bought the bunch of bananas, grown in Colombia, from the Sainsbury's in West Wickham on Monday (9/11).

When he went to slice up the bananas to have with his porridge the next morning.

He said: "Opened the bag, everything fine, turned the bananas over and all I saw was this huge dark mass hanging on to the bananas.

"It was a spider and it started to move so I shouted to my girlfriend 'don’t come in the kitchen!'"

He quickly threw the whole bag in the outside bin, shouting to his girlfriend Natasha Gooda, 39, to not enter the kitchen.

Arachnophobe Joe crept back out early three hours later and fished the bag containing the spider out the bin.

He said: "I emptied the whole bag into a plastic box, and as soon as it fell out I put lid on it and I could tell it wasn’t moving.

"We Googled it and it looks 99% like the wandering spider."

The Brazilian wandering spider, or Phoneutria fera, is commonly found in South America and is often found on banana leaves or bunches.

Also known as the banana spider, they gain their name from the habit of moving across jungle floors at night in search of food.

The Guinness Book of World Records has named it the most venomous spider in the world for possessing the most active neurotoxic venom of any living spider.

Their venom is toxic to the nervous system, causing symptoms such as salivation and an irregular heartbeat.

The venom can also be known to cause a long, painful erection to human males.

Stepdad-of-one Joe said: "I saw a few pictures, it looked identical; the big hairy legs, the big abdomen with the little humps coming out and a black line.

"I was a bit shocked to find out it's one of the most venomous and dangerous spiders in the world."

Joe and mental health nurse Natasha contacted Sainsbury's who told them to send the spider to them for further investigation.

The bananas are in the bin, but the spider remains in a plastic wrapper outside their home.

A Sainsbury’s spokesperson said: “We’re in touch with the customer to apologise for their experience.

"Incidents like this are extremely rare and we have processes in place to prevent them.”

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