RETAIL giant Tesco has blamed customer demand for less chemicals and pesticides on their food for the shock discovery of a spider.

Student Holly Bedwell, 19, was horrified to find the creepy crawly in a bag of mixed vegetables bought online from Tesco.

The student, from Buxted, did not notice anything was wrong when serving up the vegetables for her family’s dinner on, May 28.

But the discovery put the whole family off their dinner.

Tesco said the downside of using fewer pesticides was there was a greater chance of them surviving in crops.

Miss Bedwell said: “We were literally two mouthfuls in when my sister put some carrots on her fork and saw a spider clinging to one of the carrots.

“It completely put us all off of our food and we couldn’t eat another bite.

“It is worrying because you trust that your food has been checked before it is packaged and then things like this happen.

“I’m just glad my sister Esme didn’t accidentally eat it.”

The family contacted Tesco Customer Services which apologised and promised to investigate.

An online Customer Services representative via Tesco's website said: “Our customers did request that we use less chemicals and pesticides through the production process.

“The downside being, there’s a greater chance of pests and insects surviving in crops.

“Once harvested, our salad is subjected to checks at several stages of production.

“I'm very sorry we failed to spot and remove this creature.

“They requested the item, which was bought online, be returned to a store to be investigated by suppliers.”

BACKGROUND

Many in England may have a hard time imagining creepy crawlies as part of their daily diet.

But according to some chefs insects as food could become the next serious dining boom.

Two-billion people worldwide already eat protein-rich insect species as part of their diet according to research by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation.

Chefs have tipped cockroaches, crickets, scorpions and spiders as a possible new direction of modern cuisine.