Victoria Jean Harrah sat down around noon Wednesday to eat a freshly grilled ham and cheese sandwich with her fiance when she decided to warm up a plate of her favorite canned ravioli.

But instead of saucy goodness, the 48-year-old Mims, Fla., woman said she got a crunchy mouthful of what she described as a hairy-legged spider tucked into a pocket of pasta.

"I spit it up, screamed, rinsed my mouth out and I must have brushed my teeth till my teeth hurt," said Harrah, who claims to have found the surprise in a can of Chef Boyardee Mini Ravioli.

Harrah is hoping a representative of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration will evaluate the remnants of the meal to determine just what was stuffed in with the meat-filled pasta swimming in tomato sauce.

Harrah also called ConAgra, the food conglomerate that produces name-brand goods including kosher hot dogs and popcorn, to report chomping on the unappetizing find.

"They told me it was a figment of my imagination, the woman on the phone said they have people who call all the time and that it was just a piece of meat," Harrah said.

"But this was a spider. You can see its legs. It's in the middle of the noodle, it's got eyeballs and big hairy legs. Now I love Chef Boyardee, I thought it was the best ever. I would buy 20 cans a week for 30 years. But will I eat it again? Not in this lifetime."

ConAgra officials say the company is reviewing the woman's claims.

"Our consumer affairs team has had conversations with Ms. Harrah, and we'd like to continue working with her to understand the situation," said Teresa Paulsen, spokeswoman for ConAgra.

"If we could have the can, we could do a lab analysis of what she found. We take all consumer concerns very seriously. My understanding is that in our first conversation with Ms. Harrah, we apologized to her, explained our quality assurance procedures, and asked if we could pick up the can. We reached out to Ms. Harrah (Wednesday) to see what further actions she'd like us to take, as she has not given us the product for testing."

Harrah, however, said she contacted the company and the FDA and wants representatives from either to at least come to evaluate the can and its contents. She is keeping both in her freezer.

"I don't think the FDA is really serious about this, I haven't heard anything else from them. (ConAgra) said they want to get it but I'm not going to let them take it. They can take pictures, but I'm probably going to get it tested myself," Harrah said.

The popular canned pasta product comes in a variety of flavors and is found on shelves in stores across the country.

Harrah said she already detested the sight of spiders and had been bitten once, in her twenties, by a brown recluse spider. The bite, on her lower back, was painful and required extensive treatment, she said. It also left her with a lasting fear of spiders.

"I couldn't sleep at all last night. Every time my hair brushed against me, I jumped," Harrah said, adding she could only eat potato chips hours after spitting out the ravioli.

"I'm so afraid."