Evil weevils

emilyt

gilly41 wrote:

Hi
I had two bags of opened flour in my cupboard---still in the bags with pegs on them as I used them a while ago! I was going to make some scones today and when I put the flour on the scales it has tiny little creepy crawly things in it eeeeek!!! as did my other bag of flour!!!
I have never seen these before---what could they be? I have checked everything else in the cupboards and they are all ok! The cupboards were only cleaned out with bleach a week ago

---

so they are spotless(makes a change LOL)
Thanks
x

O how strange i was just about to do a thread about this very same problem. Never had them before but noticed some in my flour yesterday. Mentioned it to my mum and mother in law and they both checked their flour and had the same proble. So thankyou for asking this question.

busymumof3

Apparently they prefer humid conditions so cupboard above a kettle wouldn't be great for storing flour. A friend once took back a bag to Tesco and was told it was her kitchen that had the problem! After her experience I always keep my flour in those snap lock containers and have never had the problem thankfully and being ultra paranoid I check the bags every time!

Vikingfan

Think they may be called psocids.
They are a b*gg*r to get rid of as they can survive for months without food and only need one to procreate, clean everything down with bleach and seal all nooks and crannies and keep the kitchen on the cooler side over winter which such help as they like warmer temps

mrbadexample

Vikingfan wrote:

Think they may be called psocids.

Thank you for a great Scrabble word! :T :j

Addiscomber

busymumof3 wrote:

I check the bags every time!

Same here. Once you have seen the contents of a bag of flour moving of its own accord you never forget.

As I said on an earlier thread on this topic, nobody should feel that their kitchen is dirty if this happens. However you do have to be very thorough as they will hide in every little crack between the panels of units.

flufff

I keep my flour in a plastic carrier double bagged.Ive slugs getting in somehow tis beyond me as house is only 10 years old.Seems the slugs like my flour paper n all eeeeew

Xbigman

Its most likely flour weevils. They are harmless. The bakery where I worked would still use the flour. The MD told me they would die in the mixer!

You need to take a sample back to the store with the bag. If the store has a weevil infestation it needs to take action. If you know others in your local area with flour the same it might be a bad batch but is more likely the store.
Regards



X

aurorahelios

They are probably psocids AKA book lice. They are very common, love anything starchy and thrive in dark humid conditions. Getting rid of them is very difficult because of their ability to get into the tiniest cracks.

Here's a link to the flour advisory bureau about the wee blighters
http://www.fabflour.co.uk/Freestyle.asp?PageID=234

Penny_Watcher

Even after I'd 'deep cleaned' my cupboards and replaced all the dry goods I was still finding crawlers in the flour *shudders*

At Ikea yesterday I bought some of their large Kilner style jars (glass lids with plastic seals held shut with metal hinges). They're big enough to hold a bag of flour and sell at £1.99 each. I can't see the crawlers getting through the seal.

If I can't kill them with stardrops and zoflora I starve the little b*ggers :rolleyes:

StartingAgainKayla70

Yuk, I have had this problem only once thank god, I was in the mood to make some cakes, got the flour out and nearly died, I felt sick. Tiny beetle thingys. After reading the posts about cereals also, I think I am going to invest in some of those plastic containers as my kids are always leaving the flap open on the cereal boxes.