Placeholder Content Image

Coles warns customers after two separate redback finds in produce

<p>Coles has issued an urgent warning for customers to double check their fresh produce after redback spiders were found in bags of grapes.</p><p>This claim comes after two customers reportedly found the deadly spider in a fruit bag. One was purchased at Runaway Bay on the Gold Coast and the other from Tweed City, just south of the Queensland border.</p><p>A Coles spokesperson told news.com.au redback spiders hiding in crops is an industry-wide issue and its working closely with its suppliers and industry bodies to remove any risk.</p><p>“All Coles suppliers are required to keep their fields clean and have pest control systems in place to prevent product contamination during packaging,” the spokesperson explained.</p><p>“Coles takes the quality of all our products seriously and all grapes are visually inspected at harvest and packing for any pest presence. Retired policeman Andrew Bell told Nine News his daughter was eating grapes when she came across the “very much alive” spider.</p><p>“She was just munching away at them, and she just saw this redback,” he said.</p><p>“The last thing you’re expecting is a goddamn redback in the grapes.”</p><p>Mr Bell expressed his concerns about what would happen if a child came across such a venomous spider and the potential dangers it may impose.</p><p>Mr Marshel said while it “wasn’t huge”, it was “probably big enough to give a nip”.</p><p>He told Nine News the spider had survived a wash as well as a night in the fridge.</p><p>“This’d be more or less a hazard of the industry with fresh produce,” he said.</p><p>“I think it could happen anywhere.”</p><p>The reports serve as a warning to Australians to double check their fresh produce, with the issue of finding bugs and live creatures in groceries occurring every summer. It’s also believed Australia’s wet summer caused by La Nina has sparked an increase in insect and animal infestations across the country, experts warned.</p><p><em>Image: 9 News</em></p>

Food & Wine

Placeholder Content Image

Coles shopper makes dangerous discovery on broccoli

<p>A Brisbane shopper has found a redback spider crawling on his broccoli that he purchased from Coles.</p> <p>The shopper said he was unimpressed when he found the venomous spider on the produce but was even more frustrated after the response he claims he received from the Chadstone store where he bought the broccoli.</p> <p style="text-align: center;"><img width="500" height="280" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7817423/1_500x280.jpg" alt="1 (116)"/></p> <p>"I don’t write these publicly as I understand things can happen and don’t like to bring it into the public’s view, which is why I tried to resolve this privately. But so far I’ve been unhappy with your response," he wrote on Cole’s Facebook page.</p> <p>"I purchased some groceries... when I got home to do some cooking I noticed a little critter on my broccoli.</p> <p>"Not wanting him to escape somewhere I sprayed some bug spray in there. I then called your Chadstone store immediately to let them know, so they could check their fresh food produce to make sure there are no others around.</p> <p>"They thanked me for letting them know and hung up before I could ask for some more broccoli as I no longer had any I could eat."</p> <p>The customer said that Coles had not responded to him after he privately messaged the company to see if he could pick up some more broccoli next time he was in the store.</p> <p>"Your website says that you’ll provide a replacement or refund if I contact your online team, which I have done and was promised... but still haven’t received anything," he said.</p> <p>"I’m pretty easy going, I’m not kicking up a stink – but I feel like my matter wasn’t taken very seriously, otherwise it would have been resolved by now.</p> <p style="text-align: center;"><img width="500" height="450" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7817421/1_500x450.jpg" alt="1 (115)"/></p> <p>"I feel like I did the right thing by you by calling up your store immediately and letting them know, I feel like you are yet to do the right thing by me."</p> <p>Fourteen hours after he posted the message, a representative responded to him and said they were “sorry to hear about this disappointing experience”.</p> <p>"So we can look into this for you, could you please private message us with your best postal address," the rep finished.</p> <p>A Facebook user commented on the post, asking why the shopper didn’t “just rinse it off rather than spraying your food".</p> <p>The shopper said, “I could have, but I didn’t – I wanted to avoid touching it.”</p> <p>A spokesperson for Coles told <a href="https://au.news.yahoo.com/a/39786070/coles-shopper-matt-luxford-says-redback-spider-found-on-broccoli/" target="_blank"><em><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Yahoo7</strong></span></em></a> the supermarket chain is taking the matter seriously.</p> <p>"Coles takes the quality of all our products seriously. We have contacted the customer and will follow up with our supplier to investigate the matter," the spokesperson said.</p>

Money & Banking

Our Partners