How to get rid of bugs in the kitchen in cereals, flour and other products

The kitchen is the center of attraction of any home. Here they cook, eat, socialize. If unexpectedly bugs from nowhere are discovered in the supply cupboards in the kitchen, housewives get upset.

We have to start fighting small pests, sort through and destroy almost all the products stored on the shelves. These nasty bugs can start in the cleanest kitchen, and you can get rid of them without a trace and quickly enough, before the pest beetles cause significant damage.

6 Prevention of bugs

7 Conclusion

Why do bugs appear in the kitchen?

If there are small bugs in the kitchen, you should carefully consider the ways in which they appear in the house.

Eggs and larvae of insect pests can contaminate unpackaged products purchased in bulk at markets, supermarkets, and wholesale depots where storage conditions are not met.
Insects can also be found in packages brought from the store, in which low-quality raw materials were packaged from the manufacturer.
Bugs in the cupboard with cereals can appear from the food products with which they are “neighborhood”. Often the breeding ground for pests are:
loose tea leaves;
spices and seasonings.
If the rules for storing groceries at home are not followed:
unsealed containers;
excess amount of food purchased for future use.
Insects can move into grains from wooden furniture or kitchen utensils.
Come from the neighbors through the ventilation.

From the shop

Where are the bugs hiding?

If insects appear in the kitchen, then general cleaning is essential. We'll have to check everything. After all, kitchen pests are practically omnivorous. Neither red pepper nor medicinal herbs scare them.

Note! It is best to complete the search in one day because the bugs can multiply quickly.

The work plan is as follows:

Sort through all the cereals. If living creatures were found in open packages, then most likely they have already gnawed through the sealed products. Open and check everything!
Don't forget to check the salt. Perhaps the emerging insects are not connoisseurs of sweets.
Beans are a favorite delicacy. If dark spots appear on the beans, throw them away. In the future, try to store beans only in the freezer.
Check all the seasonings and first aid kit. Kitchen pests are partial to ordinary mustard plasters. Be sure to review all packaging.
Don't forget about tea and coffee. A floating insect in a cup is quite a sight!
Sort through all the vegetables. Some beetles do not disdain onions.
Move all the furniture and check the cracks. If during this time you managed to find several clusters of beetles, you will have to check the entire apartment.
Inspect the window sills and floors.
Check all equipment. Don't even ignore the iron.

Types of bugs

Bugs in the rump may appear as small black dots. Their larvae resemble small, thick white worms. Pests of stocks in our latitudes are most often several types of insects.

Brown bugs in cereals such as rice, pearl barley, rolled oats are most likely red mucoeds . Their length is less than a grain of rice - 1.5-2 mm. Capable of flying. Adults do not eat flour and cereals, but lay a countless number of eggs, from which very small larvae hatch, not noticeable in the product due to their white color. So they eat the cereal, spoiling it and making it unsuitable for cooking.
Suriname flour beetle , flour beetle or small beetle is another brownish-brown bug. Its size is slightly more than 3 mm; characteristic numerous teeth can be seen on the sides of the body. White larvae, about 4 mm long, feed on grains damaged by adults. Flour and cereals in the container collect in lumps and acquire an unpleasant musty smell.

On a note! The Suriname flour beetle is one of the most common beetles that pest bulk food products in the world. Colonies of these beetles often occupy granaries and food production facilities, from where they enter the kitchen. Insects are able to live and feed in dried fruits, cookies, leaf tobacco and even plant-based drugs.

The bread grinder is a bug up to 4 mm long, dark brown in color. The pests are adults and larvae. Adults do not eat cereals directly, but they drill numerous holes in the products themselves and in the packaging. Like all pests, it multiplies quickly at high temperatures. Lives in bakeries and warehouses.

On a note! In English-speaking countries, the pest is called the pharmaceutical beetle, since the insect larvae are not only very voracious, but also indiscriminate in food. They can eat plant and medicinal materials, including poisonous ones. This species can also harm books (especially old ones), entomological collections, raw silk, herbariums, and collection seeds.

Occasionally in the kitchen you can find a weevil - a tiny round black bug. The length is no more than 1.5 mm. They live mainly in fields where legume crops are cultivated: beans, peas, etc., and take root well in granaries.

Basic rules for storing products

Fighting insects in the kitchen with cereals is a thankless and difficult job, and often in the process of getting rid of pests you have to “say goodbye” to existing supplies. Naturally, every housewife will be interested in learning how to properly store cereals and flour products in the house so that bugs do not infest them.

Proper storage first of all involves the need to regularly, at intervals of no more than a week, clean kitchen shelves, and conduct a visual inspection of products for damage, mold or insect breeding. Special attention should be paid to containers for storing products: it is advisable to use hermetically sealed, tightly sealed glass jars or bags made from environmentally friendly materials for these purposes.

The shelf life of products is another factor that can cause insects to appear in cereals. In situations where long-term storage of products is expected, it is advisable to place stickers or other information signs on the container, indicating the date until which the product can be used for food.

Store flour and cereals to prevent bugs from infesting them in dry cabinets, away from sinks and other sources of moisture, since high humidity can accelerate the reproduction of insects if they accidentally enter the house with poor-quality products.

Ventilate the room regularly: fresh air and sunlight are unfavorable factors for most types of food insects.

Are bugs in the kitchen dangerous?

If you find that there are bugs or larvae in cereals, for example, semolina, it is too early to panic, but it is worth collecting information about how pests of stocks can be dangerous:

If not detected in a timely manner, pests can multiply and move from the original source to other food supplies in the house and damage wooden furniture.
They will not cause serious poisoning to humans, but they can cause digestive upset.
Waste products of adults and especially larvae can cause allergy attacks, especially in young children.

Causes of pests

The question of where the bugs in cereals come from leads most housewives into a dead end, since it is really difficult to understand where the insects came from in a clean, constantly cleaned room. In most cases, the appearance of bugs is not related to the housewife’s tidiness, but is often due to factors completely independent of her.

The reasons why bugs appear in cereals or flour may be as follows:

Failure to comply with sanitary and hygienic standards in production.
Infection of products by insects during storage or transportation.
The introduction of beetle larvae with bakery products into the house, followed by migration of living creatures into the cereals.

Bugs cannot appear on their own in the kitchen; this must be preceded by one of the described precedents, and the housewife brings larvae into the house with purchased products, which multiply over time and infect the existing supplies.

Is it possible to eat contaminated cereals and flour?

Bugs that appear in the kitchen cabinet indicate that the food has been contaminated. Pest control should be started urgently, as they multiply exponentially. Flour, beans, cereals, tea, spices and other groceries are not suitable for human or pet consumption. You need to get rid of them without regret.

Contaminated products

Prevention of insect breeding

In addition to following storage rules, in order to prevent the appearance of insects in cereals, folk tricks are often used:

Pests are afraid of substances that have strong odors. Housewives use lavender, bay leaves, and garlic as a deterrent against cereals. Aromatic herbs and spices are placed in fabric, natural bags in cabinets, and garlic can even be placed at the bottom of a container with cereal - this will not affect the taste of the prepared dish.
Treat containers for storing products before filling them with salted or vinegar-diluted water, followed by drying them without preliminary rinsing.
Beetles cannot tolerate metal, according to scientists, so a small piece of foil or any metal object placed in a container with cereal will prevent pests from breeding in it.

And one more piece of advice. In order not to look for “working” methods of pest control, not to decide which of them to choose, if you need to destroy the next “offspring”, purchase products in small quantities, as needed. Agree, the risk of breeding bugs is much higher if “bulk” products are stored in bags than in situations where there are several jars of different cereals on the shelf, and it will be much easier to cope with the problem with small stocks of products.

Methods for getting rid of bugs in the kitchen

Don’t despair if you find pests in food supplies. There are several ways to get rid of bugs in your kitchen cabinets.

First you need to empty your cabinets and closets. Next, check the furniture and shelves for eggs and insect larvae and destroy them.

Folk methods of struggle

You can get rid of bugs that have infested cereals in the kitchen using old, proven methods. Our grandmothers also knew how to get rid of flour bugs in the cupboard quickly and safely.

The first way to remove bugs from cereals is to place small containers with vegetable oil in the corners of kitchen cabinets. Pests attracted by the smell fall into the oil, which clogs the spiracles (holes through which insects breathe). After some time, the insects die.
The next thing you can do if there are bugs in the cereal is to place plants with a repulsive odor in the cabinets. Natural repellents are: bay leaf;
lavender;
pyrethrum (chamomile);
sagebrush.

Borax and boric acid have proven themselves to be excellent for pest control. Sodium tetraborate is poisonous to insects. The bait is made by combining borax with semolina and sugar in a 1:1:1 ratio. From the resulting mixture you need to roll small balls and place them on sheets of clean paper in the pest habitats.

Attention! Remember that sodium tetraborate is poisonous. Do not use poisoned baits where children or pets can reach them.

Chemicals

In stores you can purchase ready-made poisonous compounds that will allow you to fight bugs and get rid of unwanted bugs in your closet forever.

The following drugs are intended to combat them:

"Antizhuk" is an insecticide for surface treatment.
“Rogneda” will allow you to get rid of not only cereal bugs, but also cockroaches.
“Dichlorvos” is an aerosol that allows you to treat crevices and cracks in furniture that can harbor pests.

Dichlorvos

Attention! When using insecticides, take precautions:

all food must be removed from the kitchen;
hands, eyes and respiratory organs must be protected with PPE;
carry out processing without children and pets.

You can treat the cabinet with a chlorine solution, for example, “Belizna”, and the more saturated the solution, the more effective the expected result. After this, it is necessary to ventilate the room.

Summarizing

Remember, food is the main source of energy and nutrients for a person, and health indicators directly depend on its quality. For cooking, you should use only high-quality, usable ingredients, and cereals with components of the vital activity of food pests are far from the best option for a healthy dish.

The methods presented in the article will help you cope with pests that have conquered the territory of your kitchen, and small tricks, in the form of folk methods for preventing the breeding of beetles, will eliminate the reappearance of insects.

Prevention of bugs

Kitchen bugs will not appear in the kitchen if you follow the rules for purchasing, storing and processing food.

Buy cereals, flour, grain products, beans, dried fruits, and vegetable raw materials in transparent containers. This will help you take a closer look at the contents of the package. Also make sure that the package is intact.
Purchased goods can be disinfected at home:
calcined in the oven at a temperature of about +1000C (not suitable for all products);
low temperatures have a detrimental effect on pests, especially in the egg and larval stages, so it is worth placing them in the freezer for a day.
Inventory in cupboards and pantries should be checked periodically to identify pests. Particular attention should be paid to products brought from the market: dried fruits, spices, etc.
Storage containers should be pre-washed with soda solution.
Shelves and cabinet walls can be treated with a vinegar solution or disinfectant.
You should not allow an excess of groceries; do not buy for future use.
It is better to pour store-bought cereals and flour into clean, sealed containers made of glass or plastic.
It is necessary to maintain optimal temperature and humidity conditions in the kitchen and utility rooms.
Try not to purchase products that have not passed phytosanitary control.

How to get rid of bugs in cereals

It is not easy to destroy insects that have settled in cereals, but it is doable. To do this you need to take several steps:

Destroy visible beetles in the rump. It is best to throw away without regret those supplies in which insects were found. Eating them is unpleasant and unsafe. Even if you remove the beetles from the product, there will still be larvae, waste products - excrement, pieces of shell and dead insects. And the cereal itself is already pretty spoiled.
If there is still a need to save stocks in which bugs are found, you can resort to heat treatment - fry the cereal in the oven for 20 minutes at a temperature of 55 - 70 degrees (insects die at 50 degrees and above). The second option is to keep it in the freezer for a couple of hours or on the balcony in winter (at temperatures below -15). Living individuals and larvae will die. After this, the flour can be sifted, and large grains can be filled with water so that the insects float up. But waste products will not go anywhere!
Once the contaminated supplies are destroyed, all that remains is to clean out the lockers. Wash all shelves, door hinges, and bushing holes with a disinfectant. Afterwards, wipe everything with a vinegar solution.
Thoroughly rinse the jars in which grain supplies were stored, after boiling or freezing. Then rinse them with vinegar solution and dry.
To destroy those insects that may have scattered during harvesting, you can use poison. Mix equal parts of ground cereal or flour, powdered sugar and boric acid. Place the mixture in the corners of the cabinets, in the most secluded places in the kitchen furniture.

8 ways to protect cereals from pests

After the activities have been completed, you can refill the jars with cereals and replenish stocks of flour, dried fruits, and nuts. But then you should carefully monitor so that the bugs do not appear again.

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.

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.

Recycling is a simple and reliable method

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.

Chemicals in pest control

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.

General cleaning as a method of pest control

Pests can also be removed by thoroughly cleaning their habitat. But subject to the obligatory condition of disposal of affected products.

What do we have to do:

Empty the cabinet or shelf of its contents. Clean everything inside with a soapy vinegar solution. Pay special attention to food residues that often spill out in storage areas.
Pour boiling water over all containers.
Wash fabric bags in salt water.
For adult individuals, it is better to use special traps.

Plants with a pungent odor also show good results in the fight against insects. These include mint, lavender, lemon balm and others. Soaking cloth strips in extracts will help prevent a new insect infestation. The main thing is not to forget to update your feeds.

Prevention in the presence of bulk products

Bugs bite through polyethylene, where utensils made of plastic or glass will not give them any fun. The means of prevention do not end there, and no less radical methods are used:

Stop hoarding

Semolina always amazes with the intensity of the reproduction of unnecessary living elements in it. The bugs in the apartment seem to be waiting for a “you’re welcome” signal if they want to clog the kitchen cabinets for future use for a long time.

Can't get rid of hoarding syndrome?

Buy a plant-based dust.

Insects do not like it, but such a remedy cannot harm people.

Selecting the right packaging

Khrushchev is not able to bite through glass and plastic, and will not lay claim to property made from this material. The packaging should initially be doused with boiling water so that the pest eggs are not given the slightest chance of survival. Fabric storage bags are also not prohibited, but it is recommended to boil them before use.

Extra Precaution

Some thrifty housewives keep bags in which flour and cereals were once packaged. A remedy for aggressive flour bugs in the kitchen will never help if such “wealth” is carefully stored in cabinets. You won't be able to get rid of unnecessary infestations by throwing bags in the trash. In this case, the aggressors will still return to their previous positions.

Product separation

How to remove insects without further consequences?

Everything is elementary when you lose the desire to mix the same dried fruits with cereals. It is not recommended to double the risk of insect penetration and reproduction for no apparent reason.

Freezer to the rescue

A little effort in preserving food can be costly. It is not forbidden to package the purchased product in secure containers.

Who will guarantee that products from a reputable market do not contain larvae?

Insects do not like extreme cold, so such an effect on them will not hurt.

Burning cereal

There is no need to heat it to a specific red color. In this case, we are not talking about the idealization of cereals with a questionable improvement in its qualities. Doubtful products should be subjected to heat treatment for half an hour, provided the oven is set to 200 degrees Celsius or higher.

Making your own product

It is customary to place lavender in the wardrobe area where fur and woolen products are stored. Why not fight the voiced pseudo-reformers with the help of the same lavender leaves. Heritage Nutmeg is also effective in this regard. It is enough to cut it into neat strips and place it throughout all kitchen cabinets. It is recommended to pay special attention to their joints.

Initial product review

In this case, it will not be possible to count the larvae, because such a loose contingent is insidious in all respects. Only a bread grinder has the audacity to show himself before the eyes of humanity. It is this parameter that should be studied first, so as not to grieve over the missing product later.

Potato method

For some reason, the Internet is deaf with such information. Parasites of any variety love potatoes with all their hearts. One Colorado potato beetle will show its commitment to potatoes with all its paws. There is no need to worry when growing this crop on the balcony. In this case, it is better to build next to it a neighborhood with beans, which the voiced evil spirits of insects greatly respect.

What is the benefit of such actions?

In the future, parasites will be less interested in flour.