A mum was horrified after finding a live spider in a packet of supermarket-bought grapes.

Lorraine Leggett was about to tuck into a fruity snack at work in Gorleston when she noticed something sticky on one of the grapes. And after peering into the punnet she discovered a web, egg sac and live spider.

The 46-year-old says the incident has put her off grapes and she is now urging fellow fruit eaters to thoroughly wash their produce.

Lorraine, from Beccles Road, Gorleston, said: 'It was horrendous. I had another packet in the fridge and I binned them. It's put me off grapes, I won't be eating them for a while.

'It made me feel quite queasy.'

The mum-of-two had bought two packets of red grapes from Asda as part of her normal home shopping order. The day after the delivery she took one punnet to work to snack on before lunch, where she noticed the eight-legged addition to her elevenses.

She said: 'I was picking the grapes and thought these are a bit manky because some of them had little holes in them.

'Then I picked up another one and it had white fluff on it. When I looked closely I thought, it's sticky.

'I looked at the grapes to see where this white stuff had come from and realised it was a nest and a piece of web was on the grape.

'Then as I pulled the grapes apart I could see something move.'

She quickly squashed the spider and took a picture of the web and egg sac before sealing the packet and taking it to environmental health officers at Great Yarmouth Borough Council, who are now investigating.

The spider is believed to have been a South African sac spider.

Lorraine, a care home manager, added: 'What frightened me was that it must have been in there a while to lay eggs.'

Asda has since apologised and said the case is being investigated.

A spokesman for the supermarket said: 'We have procedures in place to ensure our fresh produce is free from insects, so the chance of finding a spider is incredibly low but very occasionally one hangs around to give us a fright.

'We sincerely apologise to Mrs Leggett for any distress caused by finding this spider and were happy to give her a full refund on her grapes.'

The council said it had been in touch with Asda as part of its investigation, which is in its early stages.