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A mother was told to burn her belongings after finding the eggs of one of the world's most venomous spiders nestled in a bunch of bananas at her home in Essex.

Abby Woodgate, 30, was given a fright when she was told the eggs she found on bananas bought from Tesco's belonged to a Brazilian wandering spider.

The arachnid's venom can cause paralysis and asphyxiation. In smaller doses it has been used to treat erectile dysfunction, with its bite previously known to have caused erections lasting up to four hours.

Pest control experts told Mrs Woodgate to destroy the vacuum cleaner she had used to clean up the eggs, as well as anything else that had come into contact with them.

When she first saw the eggs, she thought they had been mould growing on the fruit which she threw in the bin.

Those eggs which spilled onto the floor were hoovered up.

She immediately called Tesco, who delivered the shopping, and was told they would collect them. The store called again and said pest control would be round instead.

Mrs Woodgate told the Colchester Gazette: “The pest controllers asked where the eggs were and I told them the bin and they said 'right, we'll take that’.

“Then they asked had anything else come into contact with the eggs, and I told them about my vacuum cleaner, so they said 'we'll have to take that too'. All they could tell me is they thought they were tropical spider eggs.”

A Tesco spokesman said: “We set ourselves high standards for the food we sell and were concerned to hear of this incident. We’ve offered Mrs Woodgate a gesture of goodwill and arranged for pest control to remove the product. We will be asking our supplier to investigate."

Pest control experts told her the spiders are unlikely to hatch because temperatures in the UK are too cold and it was necessary to fumigate her home.

Last November a Tesco in Kent was forced to close after a Brazilian wandering spider was discovered under a box of bananas.