Man says he found scorpion in berries bought at Ballantyne grocery store

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A south Charlotte man claims he nearly ate a scorpion last week after bringing home blackberries he bought from a local grocery store.

Tim Fox said he made the disturbing discovery last Tuesday evening, and he’s not happy with how the store where he said he purchased the fruit handled his complaint.

Fox described to Channel 9 anchor Blaine Tolison the moment he spotted the arachnid. He said it happened while eating his snack at work at a car dealership in Rock Hill.

“When I went to put one of the berries in my mouth, it was kind of hanging from it,” he said.

Fox said he didn’t realize what it was at first and immediately threw it in the trash.

“I went back, and I looked in the trash and I picked this scorpion up and it was dead,” he said. “I put it on my desk at work and I had about four coworkers around me, and we were like, ‘Oh my God.’”

Fox, who lives in Ballantyne, said he buys berries from the Harris Teeter on John J. Delaney Drive almost every week. He purchased the MegaBerryes brand blackberries two days before eating them.

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The day he opened the fruit and saw the scorpion, Fox said he called the Harris Teeter and asked a manager to remove the packages from the produce section before actually going to the store to speak with the manager face-to-face.

“I showed him what I had, and he didn’t really act like he cared, and didn’t really say a whole lot about it,” Fox told Channel 9.

He said the manager showed him about 10 packages he removed from the shelf, but Fox thinks more should have been done.

“They should have immediately taken every single blackberry in that store and went through every single package,” he said.

Fox gave the manager his phone number and asked for a call from the grocery chain’s corporate office, but said he called the corporate office last Wednesday after he didn’t get a call back right away.

He said the company offered him a $500 gift card, but he turned it down. Fox told Channel 9 he would like something more substantial.

“I just think that they need to understand that they need to be more careful,” he said.

Channel 9 contacted Harris Teeter and a communications manager responded to our request for comment in an email, writing:

“Harris Teeter is conducting a thorough investigation. Harris Teeter and its vendors are committed to the absolute highest standards in regard to quality. We regret this shopper’s experience did not reflect those standards.”

MegaBerryes, the Texas-based company listed on the package of blackberries, was also contacted but has not yet responded.

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