Clerk recovering from likely black widow bite

LACONIA, N.H. – A 20-year-old grocery clerk is recovering after apparently being bitten by a black widow spider hidden in a bunch of grapes.

Vista Foods clerk Garrett Cota-Robles was bitten on Wednesday and was hospitalized at Lakes Region General Hospital.

Cota-Robles’ mother, Gretchen Preston, said doctors expect her son to make a full recovery, although he was in considerable pain.

Jim Prive, vice president and general manager of Associated Grocers of New England, confirmed a store employee had been bitten by a spider.

He said it was unclear whether the spider was a black widow, but Laconia Fire Chief Ken Erickson, who said he saw it, believes it was. Erickson said he and other firefighters happened to be at the hospital when the victim was brought in.

The chief said the spider had the black widow’s “distinctive red hourglass belly.”

As a precaution, Associated Grocers has pulled all Shalom Fancy Table Grapes-brand Thompson seedless grapes, which were distributed by Anthony Vineyards of Bakersfield, Calif., from its Laconia store, said Prive.

Prive said the grapes did not come through the Associated Grocers distribution network. He said no other Vista Foods stores had that brand of grapes on their shelves Wednesday.

In early June, a Nashua woman found a black widow in a bunch of grapes she bought at a Market Basket store there. At the time, Market Basket officials said the chance of finding live spiders in produce is increasing because growers are required to use weaker pesticides.