Are Flour Bugs Harmful? 6 Natural Tips to Keep them Out! (2024)

FAQs

How to keep out flour bugs? ›

Choose the Right Containers: It is essential to pick airtight containers, sealed away from the elements and made of high-quality materials. You should have a flour storage container that protects its quality over time and limits the possibility of contamination.

Flour mites and their eggs are killed by contact with hot, soapy water. Once all pantry items are cleared out, use a rag with hot soapy water to thoroughly wipe down all pantry surfaces. It is important to wash out the rag frequently as you continue to clean to prevent further spreading of the mites.

Are flour beetles dangerous? Pantry pests such as flour beetles cannot bite, scratch, sting, or directly harm humans in any way. However, flour beetles can contaminate the food items in which they live. Egg laying and pathogen spread is a serious concern for residential and commercial property owners.

Weevils are not harmful to humans, pets, houses, furniture, or clothing and don't carry any diseases. They are temporary nuisance pests that damage stored food products. If weevils infest a garden or field, they can damage plants and reduce crop yields.

Keeping the pantry tidy and creating a habit of storing grains in sealed containers will go a long way to keep them from coming back. For an added layer of protection, create a 365-day bug barrier with Ortho® Home Defense Max® Indoor Insect Barrier With Extended Reach Comfort Wand®.

Start by wiping down all shelves, walls, and surfaces with white vinegar. Vinegar is a natural cleaning agent that is effective at disinfecting and removing odors from your pantry. It is also a natural deterrent to weevils and other pests.

If a food product is heavily infested, the best method of control is to discard infested items. Light infestations can be controlled by temperature manipulation, either freezing or heating when applicable. Always clean up spilled flour/food products, especially in hidden areas around appliances.

The best method of control is to discard the infested products. Check all opened packages of flour, noodles, cereal, and even dog food and birdseed for beetles and larvae (small, white grubs). Discard any found that are contaminated. Next, thoroughly scrub cupboards and kitchen area with strong a detergent.

The life cycle is completed in seventeen days at sixty-four to seventy-one degrees F, and twenty-eight days at fifty to sixty degrees F. At some time during the juvenile period, grain mites may change into a stage known as the hypopus. During this unique stage, the body wall hardens and suckers appear on the underside.

While flour beetles do possess mouthparts, they do not usually bite humans or pets but red flour beetles can cause allergic reactions that cause wheals or raised red, itchy welts that can be mistaken for flour beetle bites.

Should you throw away flour with weevils? ›

Flour weevils are safe to consume — to a point

Lightly infested products — which many of us have in our cupboards without knowing — can be consumed safely. If you're concerned about flour weevil consumption, it's recommended that you heat the flour up before eating it, or you can freeze it for four days.

Flour mites

However, they can also be found on damp plaster. They have white bodies, brown legs and are almost invisible to the naked eye, so it would be extremely difficult to tell whether you had flour mites in your cupboards just by looking.

As with all pantry pests, most weevil species will feed on dry stored food like flour, seeds, nuts, pasta, sugar, beans, cereals, grains, and rice. But unlike all the other pantry pests that simply feed on these foods, weevils live in and eat the food. Female weevils bore holes on the grains and deposit eggs inside.

The truth is, weevils are NOT harmful to humans. Accidentally eating them along with your food does not cause any ill effects. What could happen is that they can simply add a different crunch to your food when eaten, something unpalatable even? Food would also not look appealing at all with some weevils as garnishing.

Per Alan Munn, Quora, and Iowa State, grain weevils are medically harmless and carry no human diseases. That said, most people find the thought of eating weevil larvae in their beans disgusting, and beans are pretty cheap to replace. So unless you're on a ship or a camping trip, just throw them out and start over.

Place a leaf on each shelf in your pantry, and change them out once a month or so (or when you can't smell them anymore). Or, place the bay leaves directly into the food container. You can also use cloves, since weevils hate that smell, too.

If you have room in your freezer, it can be the best place to store flour, since it will prevent any rancidity and a mere four days in the freezer will also kill any possible pests. If you normally don't do a lot of baking, or if you have access to a large chest freezer, this is a great way to go.

Unfortunately weevil eggs are found in flour that is purchased from the stores. As the flour sits in the cupboard, the warm environment allows for the eggs to hatch and the little weevils to grow. How do bugs appear in flour bags if the bag is sealed? Flour comes from plants and bugs are animals.

Small quantities of grain can be "saved" by controlling the weevils with heat or cold. Heating grain to 140 degrees F for 15 minutes or freezing at 0 degrees F for 3 days will kill all stages of weevils in the grain. Larger quantities may require disposal or professional fumigation.