Have you ever noticed flour bugs in your rice, cereal or pasta? Let’s talk about what they are exactly, how they got there, whether or not it’s safe to eat the food and what you can do to keep them from coming back!
Buying items in bulk is one of the best grocery saving tips that continues to work month after month, but I do wonder if the 50 pounds of flour sitting in my closet (in it’s original thick paper bag) is the best way to store it.
Growing up, my mom had mentioned something about flour bugs, but I’ve never seen them before. Or maybe I’ve just never noticed them before?
I admit – seeing flour bugs or even bugs in your whole grains, rice and pasta can be pretty gross – but all is not lost and in fact, it’s pretty common!
Why am I finding flour bugs?
This is a pretty loaded question, and one that often comes with more questions too. The best way I can think of addressing it all is to lay it all out, question-and-answer style.
Does flour go bad?
The short answer: Yes.
The long answer: The more processed the flour is, the longer it takes to go bad.
Flour is made from a whole grain, with the most common whole grain being wheat. Once the grain is no longer whole, the oils from the outer portion of the grain can go rancid (or sour, stale, etc.).
Freshly milled flour will go rancid much more quickly than store-bought all-purpose flour will. That’s because freshly milled flour will contain both the germ and the bran (natural oils are found in both of these places). All-purpose flour though, only contains the endosperm and very little oils.
This is why home bakers who grind their own wheat will make flour just before they use them in recipes.
Related: How to make flour without a grain mill
Where should we store flour?
Going back to the level of processing, all-purpose and other non-whole grain flours can be stored in a cool, dry place without any issues for about one year.
Whole grain flours should be kept in a refrigerator for the short term, about 2-5 days. If you need to store whole grain flour for longer than a handful of days, the freezer is the best place.
How should we store flour?
If the flour will be used fairly quickly, it can be left open or in a container with a lid.
Think about local bakeries and delis – they’ll often have a bucket of flour open on the counter or a lid may be slightly ajar. They will use a good bit of flour in a single day, so sealing it up tight isn’t an issue.
If the flour will be used within a month or two, it should be kept in a sealed container.
One to two months is considered “quick” in terms of flour usage, so you can keep your flour in a container that is NOT sealed (i.e. the same thick paper bag, rolled down) but the chances of the flour going rancid increase.
If the flour will not be completely consumed within two months, it should be stored in a sealed container.
What type of storage container is best for flour?
Depending on the quantity of flour on hand, there are food-grade buckets are available in a wide variety of sizes.
1 gallon buckets with lids would be best for daily use or the pantry. They’re light enough to move from counter to pantry and back, but big enough so that you’re not constantly refilling the flour every time you make bread.
3.5 gallon buckets with lids are best for keeping on the floor of the pantry or in a nearby closet. This is where you’d keep the majority of the flour, refilling the 1 gallon bucket with the flour from the 3.5 gallon bucket. These will be too heavy to easily use in daily baking, but not so heavy that you couldn’t slide it on the floor or pick it up if you absolutely had to.
5 gallon buckets with lids are best for long-term storage in a basement or garage or excess pantry. This size will be too big for most people, but is ideal for those who buy whole grains in bulk. You’d keep your whole grains in this bucket and bring the smaller 3.5 gallon bucket to this one when it’s empty for a refill. Then you’d grind your flour and fill up the small 1 gallon bucket.
Why are there flour bugs in grains?
If you notice little brown bugs in your flour, cereal, grain or rice, those are called weevils. Weevils look like little grains of rice, but they’re brown and they move. On their own.
Ever notice your flour tangled in something that looks like a cobweb? That means your flour is infested too.
Have no fear – flour bugs don’t just suddenly appear in your flour one day because you forgot to mop some mysterious sticky substance that one of your children accidentally spilled in your pantry. If you see flour bugs, they were already there when you bought it.
The female weevil lays eggs in the wheat kernel and it can sometimes survive the milling process. The eggs will hatch if they’re in warm or humid conditions, or have reached their maturity. The flour bugs eat the grain and then seek to mate… while eating more grain.
Why are there flour bugs in my boxed cereal?
Weevils aren’t particular about what they eat. If you find them in any other seemingly sealed spot, they’ve weaseled their way out of their original infestation spot and meandered to your rice, or cereal, or coffee.
Essentially, this means what you’ve already eaten was infested too.
Weevils are also not particular about containers. Thin cardboard boxes that cereal comes in, thin paper bags that flour comes in and even the plastic bags inside cereal and cracker boxes are no match for weevils.
The best containers to keep your dry goods in while keeping weevils out are these food-grade containers with lids that seal:
What can I do to prevent eating beetles?
1. Clean the Area.
First, get rid of the infested item.
Remove everything from the area, vacuum out any cracks and sanitize the shelves with white vinegar. If you’re sensitive to the smell of vinegar, make citrus-infused vinegar instead.
Check areas regularly for re-infestation as it may take awhile to completely rid of all flour bugs and larvae, and clean your storage area regularly.
2. Store dry goods properly.
Freeze newly purchased grains and flour for at least three days to kill any eggs. Some sources recommend freezing for up to one week. (Note that freezing will kill the eggs, but not remove them.)
As a general guideline, don’t buy more grain than you will use within four months. Store grains in a tightly sealed container, not a bag. Weevils are HUNGRY little devils and can eat through bags. (See my storage recommendations above).
3. Prevent Future Infestation
Adding whole bay leaves and garlic cloves to the area seems to deter flour bugs from setting up shop in your pantry. Garlic may leave a trace flavor in your baked goods, so if you don’t want that, go for the bay leaves instead.
Other Ideas for Preventing Flour Bugs
I haven’t tested all of these ideas myself, but if bay leaves and/or tea tree oil haven’t worked for you, readers also suggest:
- Food grade Diatomaceous Earth
- Lock & Lock Food Storage Bins
- Applying tea tree oil to a few cotton balls and place them throughout the pantry
- Dried Chilis
Will eating beetles harm me?
Other than give you the heebie jeebies, they’re harmless. In fact, the heat from baking kills the eggs and any beetles that may have made their way into your batter. So while the odds of us eating weevils – or have eaten weevils in the past – are high, the mortality rate is low.
Flour Bugs are very common. But there are ways to prevent them from showing up.
- Store your flour in food grade buckets with sealed lids – use 1-gallon, 3.5-gallon, or 5-gallon depending on where you are storing and how often you access your flour. Same goes for grain. (These storage bins would work well for everyday use.)
- Make sure to keep your pantry or storage area clean. Add bay leaves and garlic, cotton balls soaked in tea tree oil, or sprinkle the area with diatomaceous earth.
- Don’t sweat too much if you find evidence of the bugs. They won’t harm you! It’s just not too fun to eat bugs…
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Tiffany
That’s a great idea Sara! Thanks for sharing!
rebecca burke
What about commercial bread that I buy in the shops then? Ready sliced stuff? Presumably as this bread has already been baked at a high temperature in a factory, any eggs wouldn’t of survived that process? i just want to reassure myself when I bite into a slice of bread I am not eating bugs as this idea of it seriously freaks me out, as I have suffered with an eating disorder in the past and it doesn’t take much for me to go off certain foods! 🙁
Tiffany
Whether you bake at home or buy from the store, chances of bugs or eggs surviving the process are zero. You’re safe Rebecca. 🙂
Stacey
Is it possible for flour to get mites or something similar? I was making something with sugar that i hadnt used in awhile and noticed some very small brownish/orangish bugs in it, but when i looked in the cupboard, they were coming from the bag of flour! I threw out both bags and sprayed out the spot they were in with cleaner and havent found any alive since. I still am not 100% sure what they were, just that they were coming from my flour. I bought sealing storage containers for my new bags of flour and sugar and that seemed to do the trick.
Tiffany
Yes! There are several types of bugs that fall into the “flour bug” family – weevils are just the most common. The same tactics to get rid of them and keep them away mentioned in this post should work!
Verneda Ball
I have found tiny tiny little black bugs in most of my grains kept in the pantry. As well as cobweb looking stuff in Cup of Soup, Ramen noodles and other things.
Is this one infestation or two different kinds of bugs?
Sheryl
We keep our coffee in the refrigerator in a sealed container. We don’t drink a lot of coffee so thats why we keep it there. Besides my mom said it will last longer.
Melanie
Ugh I want to know how tiny are the bugs?? Last night I was eating Cheerio’s I had just opened the box! I started to notice bubbles in my bowl and realized something must be in there!! The cereal is so grainy but my hubby strained it to find tiny white things!!! Ugh I had eaten some
Today I was going to do some baking from scratch and checked my flour I added some to a glass of water and again bubbles!!! It looked like tiny brown things came to the surface!! I mean they are tiny is that something else!? I called GM about the cereal but I honestly think it is from the store where I purchased the items!!! Ugh my stomach doesn’t feel right today ☹️
Tiffany
Melanie – the bugs are on average the size of a grain of rice. Some smaller, some bigger, sometimes lighter in color too if they’re in the larvae stage. I’m sorry you found them in both your flour and cereal. I’d try the suggestions above to clean out the pantry and prevent them from coming back.
Michelle-Paulette
Weevils….nom nom nom … good thing im a Carnivarian, and not a vegetarian 😛 I am a Carnivarian on Moral principal…. All life is supposed to be precious, animals at least can move around and try to get away , bute, hide ect… but the poor plants? they can’t do anything! so if you eat plants, you’re like a bully picking on the smallest and most defenseless.
Sars
Umm… you can’t actually be serious…!?
Crystal
Oh guess I’ll be using all the flour in my pantry to make play doh now. I’m pretty sure it’s rancid because it’s been WAYY over 2 months. And yes, I’ve had those bugs in my brown rice before, freaked me out. I threw the whole container away!
Marilynn Bailey
I have found weevils in multiple boxes of macaroni & cheese, blueberry muffin mix, pasta, corn meal, bisquick
And flour. They were all sealed in their boxes. It really grosses me out. I have cleaned my entire pantry and thrown everything of suspect in the trash. I will definitely try the tea tree oil and bay leafs. Shouldn’t we be taking this stuff back to the store? Some of the things came straight from the store and I immediately cooked it, ex. rice and found bugs floating on top.
Tiffany
I certainly would Marilynn, especially if it’s been recent!
Sarah
My grandmother taught me to put a clove of garlic in my flour to avoid the weevils. I put my bag of flour in a plastic bag and put a couple of cloves of garlic outside the flour bag so my scones dont have a whiff of garlic though. I do the same with rice. Never had a problem since… However I forgot to do it to my pasta and I found some tonight 🙁
aunt nina love
After returning from travel, found a pantry bug/weevil invasion in one kitchen cabinet. They were thriving on the crackers, flours, grains, etc. Interestingly enough, a bag of unsweetened organic coconut was chock full of DEAD bugs. They were obviously attracted to the coconut, but something in it killed them. Might serve as a good trap for any bugs I may have missed in the clean-out!
Footnote: my chickens have been feasting on the tossed food and weevils.
Beth
I went to combine 3 cereals that I had only remnants of and found webs in the bottom of one of the containers …. but not until I had already combined them! I didn’t see any bugs but the webs freaked me out. I am unemployed and really don’t want to throw the food away. Is it safe to eat? You said cooking bugs found in flour would kill them but this is cereal that doesn’t get cook … will the acid in my stomach be enough to kill them? I have heard of people eating ants and crickets … is this similar or are these bugs more harmful to humans?
Tiffany
Personally Beth, I would toss it. 🙁
Beth
You are probably right. Thanks.
Lance
First off Thank You for the information you have posted here it will be most helpful in the cleaning of my cabinets in the next few days. I discovered these lil joys of wonder as I was about to start my Christmas cookies an behold I discovered them in new bags as well as old sealed zip lock bags…
I do have 1 question as to what kind of vinegar is best to use, apple cider or white??
Thank You again for this post on these critters & Merry Christmas!!!
Tam May
Thank you for this article. I was freaking out as I found what looked like it might have been animal droppings in one corner of a shelf in my pantry underneath a bag of bulgur wheat. I had to deal with mice last year in another apartment I was renting at the time, so I did not relish the idea of having to deal with mice or something worse (snake droppings, anyone?) again. But your article makes it clear that all I had were some very dead weevils. I followed all of your instructions in this blog article. I had always read that buying in bulk is cheaper and preferred but I’m now going to stick with packaged grains. Just the idea that some little weevils might have made their way into the brown rice bin and laid their eggs before I scoop it up is enough to make me sick!
Tam
Paul
We store large quantities (upwards of 200kg) of grains and nuts and had a major weevil problem that resulted in large wastage a while back. We found cleaning out the cupboards well and then sprinkling with tea-tree oil kept them away. Although we now do freeze all grains, nuts or seeds (important to do that in a sealed container to prevent it getting soggy on thawing), we still treat periodically with tea-tree oil and so far, no more weevils.
Jean
While living in SE Asia, I made the mistake of freezing the food to kill the bugs. I ended up having to sift through every little bit of food to find dead bugs. I got smart and chased them out of the food before killing them. In those countries we didn’t have the option of going to the store to buy more. 🙂
david
Edible bugs and weevils is the initial reason I found this site. A “friend” gave me a small container of bugs he said are found in grain. He claims they helped cure cancer and other ailments. He ducked five into his mouth . Showed then to me on his tongue. Then swallowed them with water. I was astonished. But followed his example and swallowed a few too. But I have not been able to d o it again and he hasn’t been over to encourage a second dose . This is a “remedy of last resort” when doctors have given up on their patients who have months left to live. So after reading. These articles I’m concerned these creatures will migrate from the plastic container and infest everything else before I’m able to validate this curative claim my friend is making .
Stephanie
I freeze flour for about a week when I buy it. Then, it goes into a 5 gallon bucket with a gamma lid and bay leaves sprinkled around the edges, bottom, and on top. I’ve never had any issues. I store rice, sugar, and salt like this too. I do have smaller glass containers in the kitchen that I refill from the buckets. Seems to be working. I’ve had a mouse or two but never bugs or moths.
Stephanie
… And oatmeal too.
Farrah J.
oh my gosh! I’m currently living in Korea and thought they were just natives here, but i had noticed they were ALWAYS in my dry goods pantry. Now I know! I might just toss everything and start over * they make my skin crawl! I will try the bay leaves, vinegar and everything else mentioned. Thanks a lot for sharing!
Tiffany
You’re most welcome Farrah! I’m so sorry they’re in all your dried goods, but readers have had great luck with the bay leaves. I hope these remedies get rid of those bugs for you! 🙂
Jess
Trying to figure out what these little pin dot size white looking dots are that I find in my boxed past, and now dishes. When you first look they dont move but seconds after looking at them you see it move.
Raney
I’ve got a good one for you… So to speak! I had been noticing a few flour moths around but I came home a few weeks ago to find my kitchen ceiling covered in tiny white worms!! I very carefully removed and killed each one (I didn’t want them falling just anywhere!) but the next morning there were more. Removed them too and began the search for where they were coming from. One particular cupboard seemed to be the culprit (pancake mix, coconut, slivered almonds, etc., etc.) and all of those things got thrown out and everything else, cake mixes that seemed to be okay, jello & pudding mixes, tapioca flour and even tins of something like corn syrup all got put in vacuum-sealed packages or put in the freezer. Everything got removed from the cupboard and I sprayed with a surface spray that supposedly would kill everything. The next day I had a few live worms in the cupboard and few dead moths. Every day the moths decreased and I saw no more moths. But then I went away for 4 days…. Came home to several moths in the kitchen, hallway and living room. Haven’t seen any more worms and I still haven’t put anything back into the cupboard. But I am wondering about my HUGE spice cupboard and now I am finding the occasional moth in my clothes closet. Do these things eat fabric too?? Any suggestions for what else I can do? It’s been suggested that I spray intensely room by room with a flying bug killer but where are they coming from now!? Any help appreciated. I am in Italy so I don’t necessarily have everything that is available in the USA to deal with the problem.
Raney
I should correct myself! Every day the moths decreased and I saw no more WORMS…..
Mayra
Now I am really concerned. My mother said to not leave my coconut flour in the pantry becomes then worms will appear. I would have easily dismissed her claim as one of her crazy myths if it weren’t for the dozens of tiny little black bugs I spotted months ago in another house. In the other house, my pantry was separated from the AC so I always stored my non-perishable food items in the hotter temperature room, including grains (Quinoa, wild rice, coconut flour, chia seeds, and hot cereal). One day, and I have no idea where they all came from, I saw a ton of black specs over the counter and inside the pantry. I looked closely and saw that they are dead little bugs (some were alive and moving). I looked around and found no spoiled food (I only stored my grains and cans in there) so I got confused. But what did freak me out was the fact that a lot of the critters appeared to be after my rice and Quinoa. I became really irked by it and had a strange notion that rice would carry specimen that would soon form into bugs if I didn’t eat them fast enough (my freaked-out mind was trying to make sense of the situation and I became super paranoid).
Do these creatures become a problem overtime that I would need to call pest control?