After shopping in a Costco supermarket near Montreal, a Quebecer was stung by a scorpion while unwrapping his bananas.
“I removed the paper around the bananas and I got stung by the scorpion,”
explains Benoît Sanscartier, victim of the surprising incident which he relates to the Quebec media
TVA Nouvelles
.
“The sting hurts extremely
,
twice the pain of a wasp sting
,” says Benoît Sanscartier, who thought he had cut himself with the packaging before seeing the animal become agitated. He then claims to have gone to the hospital. Still taken aback by his discovery, the Quebecer said he contacted the Costco brand to get more answers on the reasons for this incident.
“They told me they only had a protocol for employees. “It’s the first time they’ve seen that for a client
,” he comments. The man even revealed a photo of his
“attacking scorpion”
which he took care to keep in a jar.
The scorpion preserved in a jar. Benoit Sanscartier, TVA News
Bananas imported from Guatemala
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency announced the opening of an investigation. Questioned on
TVA Nouvelles,
Étienne Normandin, entomologist at the University of Montreal, believes that the incident could result from the storage of bananas after their harvest in Guatemala.
“In these countries, the fruits are placed in carts or in large warehouses. They can intrude [Scorpions] and be transported here. In a few days, the scorpion can survive the cold, because they are kept in stable conditions,”
he explains.
Called the “banana scorpion,” the animal is frequently found on bananas and grapes when they are harvested. Benoît Sanscardier wishes to point out, however, that the risks of finding them in Quebec, as everywhere else, remain “very rare”.