Why do bugs appear in cereals, how to get rid of pests and which cereals are most susceptible to their influence? First of all, you need to understand that bugs only appear where there is constant access to food. Insects are attracted to loose materials not only in open containers and bags, but also when scattered on shelves and in cabinets.
Cereals and pasta are a favorite treat not only for bugs, but also for food moths. Insects also actively eat cereals, crackers, dried fruits, bread; they can be found in spices and food concentrates.
What bugs are found in the kitchen and how do they get there?
It’s not enough to discover that there are bugs in flour and cereals, damaging products with lightning speed. To choose effective pest control products, you need to clearly know what type they belong to. There are several main types of bugs that damage bulk products:
- bread grinder;
- flour bug;
- red mucous eater;
- food moth.
Bread grinders are miniature light brown bugs that can fly; they most often settle in cereals; they enjoy baked goods, old medicinal herbs, as well as tea and coffee with great pleasure. They enter the apartment with contaminated store products, as well as animal feed.
Flour bugs settle in flour more often than in any other product; they can often be found in bags of starch. Insects simply penetrate boxes in the kitchen with bulk products, including packages of rye, rice flour, rolled oats and semolina. Infrequently, you can see pests in dried fruits, rice or buckwheat.
The peculiarity of insects is the ability to reproduce quickly. Female beetles camouflage their oviposition in crevices of furniture in the kitchen, in cereals, flour, and on cabinet shelves. A new generation of pests quickly spreads throughout the home in search of food sources.
The red common mucoed is no more than 2.5 mm long. It most often enters the premises together with low-quality animal feed. The pest’s favorite food is cereals, grains, flour with an expired shelf life and a moisture content of no more than 15%. In order for the red flour beetle to stop spoiling food and breeding in the kitchen, it is enough to block access to food sources.
The food moth infests in buckwheat, rolled oats, semolina, rice, flour. A mature individual visually resembles a silver butterfly and reaches a length of 10 cm. Its appearance in the kitchen is associated with violation of food storage rules; in addition, the insect enters the house through ventilation holes and open windows.
In addition to the fact that insects are found in semolina, millet and other cereals, in some cases tea and cocoa, dried fruits, and pasta are also infected.
It is not difficult to identify pests in products - they leave behind a thin web woven from small yellow worms.
Is it possible to eat this cereal?
If you find cereal that has bugs in it, don’t even think about whether it can be used, but throw it away immediately. Contaminated products contain the remains of chitinous shells, excrement, and various forms of insect development. Bacteria and fungi settle in such cereals and find an environment for development.
We suggest you read: Do I need to wash dried fruits and nuts before eating?
The remains of shells covered with bristles are not digested in the digestive tract of humans and can cause irritation and inflammation of the stomach. Guanine and scleroproteins that are part of tick waste are not absorbed by any organism. In grain affected by pests, uric acid is formed in large quantities, which can cause a number of diseases in humans.
If there are bugs in rice, buckwheat, oatmeal or any other cereal, do not use it. Damage to the body is not detected immediately after eating spoiled cereals. The process of undermining is hidden, cumulative and gradual. As a result of such nutrition, amino acid metabolism in the body is disrupted, the number of red blood cells and hemoglobin in the blood decreases, which leads to lethargy, weakness, and sometimes more serious consequences. Therefore, if there are bugs in the cereal, then it is better to get rid of it than to have health problems. The same applies to flour.
Theoretically, flour containing bugs can be used, but is it worth it? No matter how you sift it, there will still be excrement in it. For example, flour damaged by the Moorish booger darkens, acquires an unpleasant odor and becomes unsuitable for use in cooking. If you make dough from such flour, it will not rise well and the bread will turn out low and soggy.
People are so accustomed to cereals lying on store shelves that they buy without thinking, just by looking at the price or seeing a familiar manufacturer. However, so that you don’t have to think later about whether you can eat cereal if there are bugs in it, you should be responsible when choosing such an important product.
Knowing some subtleties you will not waste time and money in vain:
- When purchasing, be sure to look at the manufacturing date. The longer the cereal sits, the more likely it is that it will begin to deteriorate or that moths will appear in it.
- The product should not have any foreign odors, otherwise it is spoiled and by purchasing it you will not be protected from the appearance of black bugs.
- High-quality cereals contain no impurities or husks. Crushed particles in whole grains indicate improper production and the presence of pests that have already begun to “gnaw” the product.
- The cereal should not have lumps. Their presence indicates that the product was stored near water, and it gained moisture or grain moths appeared in it.
After purchase, cereals should be stored in dry containers without foreign odors with tight lids that do not allow moisture and pests to pass through. Having discovered occupants in one of the cereals, you need to check all supplies, wash, dry and ventilate kitchen cabinets.
Since you will not be able to completely get rid of bugs in flour and cereals, without a doubt, throw away the spoiled product. This is the only thing you can do in this situation if you are responsible about your health.
Black bugs and other insects in flour and cereals are a common problem. When they appear, they quickly infest everything, and a few days of delay can lead to a long time to remove the pests. They not only spoil food, but can also cause poisoning and allergic reactions.
Preventive measures: how to prevent infection?
To prevent insects in cereals from complicating your life by requiring a number of operations to destroy them, you can follow simple recommendations regarding the prevention of their appearance. These include:
- Warm up the purchased cereals in the oven at low temperature for half an hour.
- Freezing bulk products in the freezer for 24 hours (use dry, ventilated packaging).
- Dried fruits are treated with boiling water, followed by washing and storing exclusively in the refrigerator.
- Thorough inspection of purchased products (including vacuum packaging) with disposal of cereals and flour with signs of contamination.
Bulk materials should be stored in perforated polyethylene or closed glass containers. As an alternative, metal boxes and ecological bags made of natural linen are suitable.
One of the reasons why bugs appear in flour and cereals is failure to comply with the shelf life of products. To avoid creating conditions favorable for pests, it is worth buying cereals and other bulk products, as well as dried fruits, coffee and tea with a minimum supply.
It is believed that rice, semolina, flour and buckwheat can be stored for no more than six months; oatmeal and millet can be stored for no more than 4 months due to their high fat content.
The record holder for shelf life is polished rice. Many varieties become even better after several years of storage, acquiring additional taste.
If you still cannot avoid contamination of food in the kitchen, you can get rid of bugs in cereals, flour and spices in several ways.
General Tips
- Review the cereals, dried fruits, spices and teas on the shelves. Bugs move and can settle in any of the listed products.
- Wash the place where cereal supplies are stored with soda and wipe with a rag soaked in vinegar.
- Place cereals that were next to the infected ones, but were clean by external signs, in the freezer for 3 days.
- When buying cereals, look at the shelf life. Wheat flour, rice flour and buckwheat can be stored for no more than six months. Oatmeal, wheat and kernels are stored for 4 months.
Recycling is a simple and reliable method
When there is neither the desire nor the ability to fight the increasing population of harmful insects in bulk products in the kitchen, it is worth moving on to a radical method - recycling damaged cereals.
Packages, sacks, containers with bugs are carefully packed in sealed cellophane and taken out of the house.
Places where contaminated products were stored (shelves, cabinets, mezzanines) are thoroughly treated with soda, vinegar or chlorine solution, followed by rinsing with clean water.
Thermal fighting - what effect does it give?
If there are bugs in the cereal, you can try to remove them by raising the temperature to +50 degrees Celsius. We are talking about treating containers with pests with boiling water or steam. The method is especially effective for removing pests in hard-to-reach places.
To free cereals and other bulk products from insects, you can dry them in the oven at temperatures up to 70 degrees for half an hour, or achieve the result by placing contaminated products in the freezer. Most bugs die at a temperature of -15 degrees Celsius.
After destroying the larvae and bugs from the kitchen cabinets and shelves, it is important not to forget to treat the surfaces, as well as all existing cereals, nuts, and beans. As a result of this treatment, it will be possible to get rid of the remaining insects that will simply float to the surface. However, given that products contaminated with insects are unfit for consumption, it is easier to get rid of them by replenishing supplies with fresh cereals and flour.
Chemicals in pest control
If there are bugs in the cereal, what should you do when the previous methods above do not give the desired effect? In such cases, it makes sense to use chemicals. The active drugs are Karbafos and Antizhuk. The second has a universal effect, helping to cope not only with kitchen bugs, but also with wood bugs that damage furniture, windows, laminate and parquet. The drug must be used with extreme caution, following the instructions.
Another remedy against pests, Rogneda, is a powerful antiseptic that allows you to dispose of a number of domestic insects, including mucous beetles, weevils, cockroaches and ants.
You can also remove bugs from the kitchen using the drug “Lovin Fire Protection”, which allows you to achieve a quick effect. The product has a high level of toxicity and is used when there are no animals or children at home.
How to get rid of bugs in cereals using borax
Borax is a multifunctional product that is widely used in everyday life. With its help, you can not only perfectly clean the toilet, but also effectively fight mold, mice and kitchen bugs.
1. You can get rid of insects in the house by preparing balls according to a special recipe. According to the proven method, you will need the following ingredients:
• powdered sugar;
• millet;
• borax.
The millet needs to be ground in a coffee grinder. Mix all ingredients in equal proportions and roll them into balls. Lockers must first be washed and disinfected. Place the prepared balls in the corners. We update them from time to time.
2. Another mixture also helps against insects. To prepare it you will need:
• dry yeast;
• sugar;
• borax.
The components should be finely ground, poured onto pieces of paper and placed in those places in the kitchen where annoying insects have settled. Experience shows that after some time the pests will disappear.
These methods are not only effective, but also safe. Thus, compositions with borax are harmless to pets and people.
Working folk methods: which ones to choose?
Those who consider chemicals too dangerous and the disposal and destruction of insects by lowering or raising temperatures are not so effective should try to solve the problem with the help of folk remedies. Recipes for some of them are below:
- Table vinegar. All surfaces infected with the bug are treated with a vinegar-based water solution, along with the simultaneous disposal of cereals and flour damaged by pests.
- Bay leaf, pepper, garlic, sulfur. All of these are products whose smell is feared not only by flour bugs (the photo below will prevent you from making mistakes in identifying pests), but by other types of insects.
- Antiseptics of natural origin - chamomile or calendula can also repel pests.
An interesting option that allows you to forget, if not forever, then for a long time, what bugs in cereals are (a photo will help you correctly identify the type of each) is a trap based on boric acid.
Bait works on a simple principle: insects are attracted to the bait. Hungry bugs try a poisoned treat, become infected with toxins and poison the rest of the colony.
To prepare the bait, boric acid is mixed in a container with powdered sugar, semolina, honey, and syrup. Treats will only attract pests if they are fresh. It is recommended to use traps when children and pets are not at home, placing them in insect habitats.
Chemicals
If the beetle has infected all the products, then it is much more advisable to treat the infected room with insecticides. Below are the drugs that are used to combat small and large flour beetles.
Phosphine
A gas produced by mixing phosphorus with hot alkali. In agricultural stores it is sold in the form of blocks for fumigation, containing substances that synthesize this chemical element when heated.
Phosphine affects the nervous system and disrupts the metabolism of insects, including the flour beetle. It is also effective against other pests.
Expert opinion
Mityuk Stefania Bogdanovna
The connection is also dangerous for humans. During the fumigation of the room, you must leave it and return only after 10 - 12 hours. The treatment area must be well ventilated.
Borax
Relatively safe product. Effective against adults, but not against larvae. Borax is mixed with flour and sugar and placed in areas where the parasite is expected to live. When ingested by a beetle, the substance causes severe dehydration, resulting in death.
Ozone
Flour beetles do not tolerate air saturated with ozone. Therefore, ionizers are used to combat them. They are left on for several hours in the room being treated.
Ozone is also toxic to humans. Therefore, the room must be well ventilated before using it.
Insecticide solutions are also used against the beetle. However, it is strictly forbidden to use them for food processing - you can get poisoned. Using solutions, the pest is removed from the seed.
