Category Archives: headline

headline

Another redback spider found in punnet of supermarket grapes

A Sydney couple had an unwelcome surprise when they noticed a live redback spider in a box of grapes bought from Woolworths.

It comes after redback spiders were found in grapes from two seperate Coles stores.

Phil Bonjovi told 9news.com.au his wife bought the fruit from a store in north-west Sydney at the end of January.

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The live spider was spotted at the top of the box of grapes.

She placed the punnet into the fridge when she got home and didn't notice the small arachnid until the next morning.

"She put the box straight out of the front door when she saw it," Mr Bonjovi said.

"She's not a big fan of spiders."

Phil Bonjovi said the spider was near asleep as it had been in the fridge.

When he arrived home, Mr Bonjovi contacted Woolworths and was issued a refund.

"They apologised, there's not much else they could do," he said.

"They did keep asking if there was anything else we needed, I said 'no'.

"The staff were great through the process."

Woolworths told 9news.com.au they're working with suppliers to help rectify the "industry-wide" issue.

"We take food safety very seriously and are working closely with our suppliers on this industry-wide issue, to ensure the quality of grapes are up to our standards when packed," a spokesperson said.

"We have apologised to the customer and offered a full refund in light of their experience.

"If ever our customers have any concerns about the quality of the product they receive, we encourage them to return it to their local store or contact our Customer Hub for a refund or replacement."

Last week, retired policeman Andrew Bell told 9news.com.au his daughter was eating grapes when she came across a "very much alive" spider.

It was one of two arachnids found in grapes bought at Coles stores last week.

One was found in a bag bought at Runaway Bay on the Gold Coast and the other in a bag from Tweed City, just south of the Queensland-New South Wales border.

Redback Spider (Ian Waldie/Getty Images)

Redback spiders are venomous, however they rarely bite humans as they don't often leave their webs, Australian Museum said.

Only a bite from a female of the species is dangerous. They can cause serious illness and have caused deaths.

Symptoms of a bite include pain, which can become severe, sweating — including local sweating at bite site — muscular weakness, nausea and vomiting.

headline

Doomsday Vault opening its doors for VIP seeds from Australia

raThe Doomsday Vault is opening its doors for some VIP seeds from Australia and other countries this week.

Located in the arctic circle in Norway, the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, holds the world's largest collection of agricultural samples.

It will this week receive new deposits from is gene banks in Africa, Europe, the Middle East, and Oceania.

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AFP Photo DOCUMENT REFERENCE000_8D5RP SLUGNORWAY - SEED - VAULT - SCIENCE CREATION DATE2/29/2016 CITY/COUNTRYLONGYEARBYEN, NORWAY CREDITJUNGE, HEIKO / NTB SCANPIX / AFP FILE SIZE/PIXELS/DPI51.26 Mb / 5184 x 3456 / 300 dpi SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONSNORWAY OUT NORWAY-SEED-VAULT-SCIENCE A general view of the entrance of the international gene bank Svalbard Global Seed Vault (SGSV), outside Longyearbyen on Spitsbergen, Norway, on February 29, 2016. (AFP)

Earlier this week around 150 species were deposited for the first time in the Seed Vault.

"Most of these are deposited by the Australian Pastures Genebank, which sent seeds from about 100 new species of forage crops," Svalbard Global Seed Vault said in a statement.

Included in the seed deposit will be millet, sorghum, and wheat; crops on which humans are dependent.

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Thirty eight boxes filled with 20,274 bags of seeds have been deposited by nine genebanks under the first opening of the Seed Vault in 2022.

After this week's deposit a total, of 1,145,693 seed samples of nearly 6,000 plant species will be secured inside the vault.

The samples serve as "back-ups" in case a species comes under threat.

"While there may be a role for the Seed Vault in the event of a global catastrophe, its value is considered to lie much more in providing back-up to individual collections in the event that the original samples, and their duplicates in conventional gene banks, are lost due to natural disasters, human conflict, changing policies, mismanagement, or any other circumstances," the website states writes.

The depository only opens a few times every year, in an effort to help preserve the plant samples within.

The doors will close again on February 18.