A MOTHER was given a shock when a scorpian-like beetle was found in her food shopping.


Kelly Keeling, 32, of Southview Road, Vange, was unpacking her Asda groceries when the insect crawled out of a carrier bag.


At first she thought it was a scorpion, but is believed to be a devil’s coachhorse beetle- which can give a painful nip due to their pincer-like jaws.


Mrs Keeling said: “When I saw that there was something in the bag I assumed it must have been a spider. They really don’t bother me at all so I just tipped the bag over but then out crawled this thing which I was convinced looked like a baby scorpion. It’s tail was moving up and down and it didn’t look like anything I had seen in this country before. I was so frightened.


“My little boy is autistic and was helping me with the shopping but luckily he was unpacking a different bag. When he saw the insect he just starting screaming.”

It is not known how the insect got into Miss Keeling’s shopping, which was delivered from the Asda store in Miles Gray Road, Basildon, at 9.20am Tuesday.

The supermarket has since replaced all chilled items from the delivery and are currently investigating the incident.