Shrove Tuesday is here and yet again us harassed Mum’s are ransacking the food cupboards to find that last bag of flour, as the kids wail for more pancakes.
But a word of caution, unpleasant things could be lurking in the flour and at the back of the cupboard too!
Insects such as the Confused Flour Beetle eats flour and cereals, and then lays eggs in the food. Their whitish-yellow larvae then pupate in the foodstuffs.
Tiny Flour Mites like warm, dark, damp corners to multiply. Indian Meal Moths however, feed on grains, dried fruits and nut debris hidden at the back of your cupboards.
However, here are some simple measures that you can take to help avoid these stored food pests and avoid Pancake Day surprises:
- Don’t keep foodstuffs beyond the ‘use by’ date.
- Keep grains and cereals in air-tight plastic containers, instead of the original paper packaging.
- Rotate food stored in cupboards, placing newer purchases behind existing items to ensure things don’t get pushed to the back of the cupboard and forgotten.
- Regularly clean cupboards to remove any flour dust, food debris or residues that will attract pests.
- Ensure areas of food storage are dry and well ventilated.
6 Comments
Well, i am pleased to say that i already follow all the guidelines mentioned without necessarily realising that i was also helping to keep pests away. So, the Indian Meal Moth, is not,like its name suggests, a native only to India but another common pest here? i would not have thought that something as relatively tasteless as flour can be so attractive to pests! Thanks for the tips!
I have to admit that I had a really bad infestation of Indian Meal Moth; which I am pleased to add I identified from the Pest Guide section of Rentokil’s web site!
Initially, I was appalled at this but we were actually able to track the source of the infestation down to Bird Seed bought & stored in it’s sack in the larder. All grains, flours and seeds are now stored in airtight containers!
One of the things I tell people, when you bring something home from the store put it in the freezer a few days then right into Tupperware. That will kill most insects and their eggs…
I like Keith’s advice.
it was only the evening after i read this post, that i was making truffles, which called for the use of icing sugar. I realised that i had had the box of icing sugar open – in its original box -for almost a year. Should i have been concerned? do some pests like sugar? i have to admit, that i did look at it more closely than i ever would have before, but these pests are tiny, right? so would i even spot them with the naked eye?
You forgot to mention that Indian Meal Moths also love dry dog and cat foods, birdseed, and potatoes. These also need to be placed where they will be used in a short time and not left to get old.