London - A horrified carer in Britain was left in agony after being stung by a scorpion that was hidden in a bunch of Tesco bananas.
Kita Fitton, 20, panicked when a sharp pain shot up her arm before she noticed the creature’s sting lodged in her swollen finger.
She then spotted the scorpion scuttling across the floor towards her, but a quick-thinking colleague managed to trap it underneath her Croc shoe.
Miss Fitton was taken to hospital by her father when her heart rate started to soar and her arm became numb.
The carer, who likened the pain to being stung by a bee 40 times, said the attack had left her with no feeling in her finger.
And she described Tesco’s reaction to the incident as “insulting” – as the supermarket is yet to apologise and has so far only offered her a refund for the bananas as compensation for the injury.
She said: “Someone came to collect the packaging for investigation and offered to refund the 59p or whatever it was.”
The incident happened as Miss Fitton was preparing lunches for the residents in the care home in Kent where she works.
The creature, which they stored in a sandwich bag, was later identified as a black-edged scorpion, a native of Costa Rica where the bananas were grown.
Although the animal’s sting is not fatal it can cause a severe reaction in victims, leading to respiratory problems and in extreme cases affecting the nervous system.
Miss Fitton, from Crayford, Kent, said: “At first in hospital the doctors thought it was a joke, as nobody gets stung by a scorpion in England. Apart from asking about my pain they didn’t know how to treat me.
“All they can do is monitor it, so I was sent home with pain relief and told to go back in if I still had no sensation in my finger.
“It was so painful, I thought I was going to die. I’m a brave person, but it was really scary.” Miss Fitton also expressed relief that the scorpion did not end up in the lunch of a resident at the home, which houses vulnerable young adults.
She said: “We’ve been trying to get them making their own lunches but I’m so glad we didn’t that night. The scorpion could have ended up in one of their lunchboxes.”
Miss Fitton claimed she is still waiting for an apology from Tesco. A Tesco spokesperson said: “We set ourselves the highest standards for the quality of our produce.
“Our customer service team is investigating this inquiry and they will update our customer as soon as possible.” Last month mother-of-four Laura Horsfield, from Cleckheaton, West Yorkshire, was shocked to discover a nest of the world’s deadliest spiders – Brazilian wanderers – in a bunch of bananas from Tesco.
The firm apologised to Mrs Horsfield for any distress caused, and offered to arrange “suitable fumigation as a gesture of goodwill”.
Daily Mail