Bugs in my flour 😭

[Deleted User]

If you put newly bought flour still in its packet into a big plastic bag and put it into the freezer for 48 hours that will kill anything lurking in it before it goes into storage. The plastic means the paper packet isn't damaged by damp. It will give you a better chance of NOT getting an infestation from new stock, and that can happen. Of course if you have an ongoing problem the packets can still be colonised from dry goods in your pantry even in jars.

ladymarmalade

Yup it's flour weevils! They give me the creeps :eek::eek::eek:

As previously suggested they are a pain to deal with as if they've been there a while they will have spread.

I think their favourite things to live in are flour, rice and pasta. Although it might seems a waste, the best thing to do is thoroughly inspect all the products that they could have come into contact with and if you're in doubt chuck it out because if you don't get rid of them all they will rebreed and infect your replacement stuff too.
Once your happy you've got rid of all contaminated items, give your cupboard a good clean and don't put anything back in until it's completely dry.

I used to get them all the time, but haven't (touch wood) seen any in my cupbards for a good two years now. It seems a watste but once any flour has been opened fora while (and I didn't put it in an airtight container) I throw it away. I once watched a programme about food production and flour and weevils were featured on the programme and it was basically alluded that most flour purchased will have a very small percentage of weevil eggs in them and these in time will hatch into the beetles!!! Freaked me out!!!

LadyDee

Oh my goodness - I was just about to get the ingredients out to make a cake and haven't used my flour for months! (and I'd already dismissed the fact that the butter should have been used by Christmas as irrelevant).

No cake for tea this afternoon.

Flat_Eric

I use the lock and lock box to store my flour but I don't buy\use a lot. I usually use it so infrequently that I buy a fresh bag. Do the lock and lock boxes contain the infestation if you get one? Yuk!

How do the supermarket's manage this?

iammumtoone

I have heard of these but never knew they were present in freshly brought flour :eek: I have started to buy organic flour, does that increase my chances of getting them?

.... rushes off to place all flour from the cupboard into the freezer for four days.

50Twuncle

Free protein - yum yum.....

Flat_Eric

Also although I don't stockpile flour, I do stockpile pasta and porridge oats. I'm guessing that any infestation starts from them being in the flour rather than being in pasta\porridge oats etc?

[Deleted User]

Any dry goods can be the harbourers of insect pests, I've seen pantry beetle, flour weevils and moth larvae in peoples dry stores that could have come from any grains, cereal, pulses even pasta and rice. I had a bag of brown rice that hatched the most horrific batch of weevils whilst still being 9 months IN DATE! It's why everything I buy now gets the freezing treatment before it goes into the store room as that kills eggs, larvae etc. that even in supermarket quality goods can exist. My rice was from one of the big supermarkets in the UK!!!

bouicca21

A friend who had flour weevils found the only way to cope was to dump everything from the affected cupboard and then clean cupboard and containers thoroughly.

karcher

My flour which I bought a couple of weeks ago and decanted into a screw top plastic jar is now in the freezer.

Once it's had its 4 days, the new bag of unopened rice will go in..rinse and repeat with the spaghetti.. I only have a small freezer so can only do them one at a time.

It takes me ages to use up these kind of store cupboard items coz there's only me here..:( and you can often only buy them in quite large quantities!

Btw what about pulses..I have a glass jar full of lentils, are they at risk too?