How to stop those bugs in flour?

beyond_skint

Is there anything I can buy or do to stop these bugs in my flour?

It's so annoying, I use the pack once in a while and I have to chuck it away because of the bugs.
Is there anything I can do?

Thanks

ginvzt

You should use air-tight containers. And any flour staying too long might get the bugs - the same goes for semolina and pulses.

angelavdavis

Someone on old style mentioned putting the new bag of flour in a carrier bag, freezing it and letting it defrost slowly in order to kill off any bugs to stop them spreading.

The flour can then be sifted with a fine sieve into an airtight container.

Shambler

Weevils will appear even in air tight containers,I think the eggs are already in the flour when you buy it.

I've only ever seen them in flour that has gone out of date so buy small bags to stop having to throw flour away if you only use a little now and then.

sweetnskint

me too buy small bags and use up asap....

Mutton_Geoff

Rice too. I remember a few years ago having to skim off loads of (what looked like) husks everytime I cooked some rice from a massive 10kg bag I'd bought (early moneysaving days!). One evening my flatmate said "did you wonder why our rice was always full of husks" and pulled the bag out from the cupboard. It was literally crawling with thousands of little beetles. Extra protein I guess?

tmm_aka_tracy

I'm sure I read that flour with these weavles in them are safe to eat, as the flour is cooked / baked, killing the little bugs. I hope thats true as I've been quite relaxed about this for a few years now.

TMM

beyond_skint

Thanks

It has put me off a bit. I don't fancy using the flour with the bugs in I did buy a small bag this time and it's only 6 months or so old. But I will be checking my pulses and rice now.:shocked:

Not much I can do really then, I might try the airtight container. Not sure I will buy any cakes or pastries from a shop again.Yuk

angelavdavis

Check pasta too. I once bought a pack of penne from Tesco and a few days later when I went to use it, I noticed that there were pasta coloured dots on the pasta, but just took it to be the pasta flour.

Much to my horror, a few days after this, these dots hatched and infested the cupboard:eek:

Even worse, we had eaten half the packet a few days earlier :eek:

minimoneyme

You can keep you flour in an air tight, ziploc type bag in the freezer and use it straight from there.
The bugs can live in your cupboards and re-infest very easily. Wiping won't get all of them, you need to brush, then vacuum all the crevices. hth

positivelymummy

eeeugh i hate these bugs, years ago it seemed that every bag of flour i bought would have them in..i mentioned it to a guy who used to work at a bakery and he says they were so common at the bakery they used the flour that they were in and they got killed when baked..put me off for years...i would buy a bag of new flour and even when first opening it i could see the live bugs at the top...but i've not seen them for years now? maybe the manufacturers have got the problem under control? and i always keep my flour in airtight plastic boxes and i've never seen any bugs in them.............i didn't know you could get the same in pasta and rice though:eek: thank god i've eaten my tea already.