A MOTHER has described her horror after being covered by a cluster of the tropical spiders which burst from a banana she was peeling – forcing her to quit her home for three days.

Gemma Price, 30, of Annfield Plain, near Stanley, County Durham, fled her home with her seven-month-old son after police advised her to evacuate the property on Tuesday. She was only able to move back in on Friday, after specialists had exterminated them.

She claims she was told by pest control experts the hatchlings were Brazilian wandering spiders – so called because they roam the jungle floor at night – recorded in the Guinness Book of Records as the most venomous arachnid on the planet. A bite from an adult can kill within two hours.

Miss Price said: “I bought some loose (Costa Rican) bananas from Asda, in Stanley, on Monday.

“Next day I came home from gym and picked one off from the bunch and went upstairs. As I peeled the banana a white egg sac, which I hadn’t noticed before, broke and hundreds of little spiders were crawling on my hands and arms and down my pyjamas. I threw the banana down on the bed and they spread everywhere.

“I was freaking out and screaming and trying to kill as many as I could. Some got into my baby Leo’s cot. I quickly picked him and called 999. The operator asked if we had been bitten and when I said no, I was told to evacuate the property with my baby immediately and not to go back. My mother lived just across the road, so luckily I had somewhere to go that time of night.”

Miss Price said when she called the Stanley branch to make them aware, she was told by the store manager to bring the spiders and banana to customer services for a refund.

“It was absolutely comical. There was no ways I was going to be walking with potentially venomous spiders in my bag,” she said. “I contact head office the next day was was not much they could do about it. The conversation got heated when he suggested I shake the baby’s clothes out, when I said I didn’t have any for Leo. That’s when he offered me a £50 voucher, as a goodwill gesture, to go to the store to get baby milk and pyjamas and things he needed.”

Miss Price contacted Durham County Council’s environmental health department and was referred to pest control. But they said they would not be able to deal with an infestation of foreign spiders and specialists needed to be called in.

Miss Price said: “I’m a chef and have had an encounter with a tropical spider before. I got bitten by a false widow spider several years ago and ended up in hospital.

“It could have been a totally different outcome if there was an adult spider with these. Hopefully I can make people aware.”

An Asda spokesperson said: “We sell around one billion bananas every year and each and every one is washed, sprayed and manually checked for quality and stowaways before being transported to the UK.

"Incidents like these are extremely rare, but we understand how upsetting it must have been for Ms Price and we are in contact with her to find a resolution.

"We'd like to reassure all our customers that the chance of finding a spider is incredibly low and it’s even less likely that a tropical spider could survive outside of their warm climate."

Asda said further: "Bananas are washed once removed from the bunch to clean the fruit but also to remove pests.

"All our farms operate to a global Good Agricultural Practice program which is recognised worldwide. This accreditation is policed by independent accreditation bodies which means farms are audited annually for conformance against this standard.

"In addition, we have a team of technical colleagues who regularly visit farms to ensure that systems are adhered to. These systems are in place to minimise risk to the consumer and the producer in numerous aspects of food quality and safety."

She added: "Spiders cannot be identified by sight or photographs. Only once dissecting and inspecting the genitals can we be sure as to which species a spider belongs to."

Sam Devereux of JG Pest Control said: "According to two technicians who attended, by the time we got to job the following day they saw no evidence of Brazilian wandering spiders there, whatsover."