Scientists say that the alarming trend of shoppers accidently bring home black widow spiders in their produce isn’t all bad news.
In recent months there’s been an outbreak of people accidentally taking home spiders along with the produce they’ve purchased at the grocery store.
Many shoppers in the US have reported black widow stowaways, and a particularly unlucky British family had to evacuate their home after it was inhabited by Brazilian wandering spiders, thanks to some bananas.
While having a black widow running around in your grapes – let alone in your kitchen - is far from ideal, scientists say that the alarming trend isn’t all bad news.
The biggest upshot of the problem is that it means a new, lower-chemical approach to insect management is working.
Rather than spraying broad-spectrum pesticides, which kill everything, some farms have adopted a method that only rids crops of what specifically endangers them.
That leaves spiders unharmed, allowing them to join the fight against the pesky insects that spoil fruits and vegetables, as they naturally prey on them.
Some fruits are harder to rid of the spiders, however, meaning more of them are making it into the produce aisle of stores and ultimately, people’s homes.
Fear not, though – black widows aren’t as dangerous as they’re fabled to be.
