Flour mites!

[Winston]

Have just discovered flour mites in my cupboard, help! I put two bags of flour in a tupperware box so have been tightly sealed and just looked in the box and its crawling with them! Searched internet and discovered you cant wash them away as they love damp areas. Cant understand how we are so infested as flour has been kept in sealed tub and not in damp area. Any suggestions on how to get rid of them and how to prevent this happening again?

[scatterbrain]

Oooh Yuck - they are vile aren't they - we had them just before Xmas !! I just emptied the cupboard, swept everything out - wiped with a Flash Wipe and dried with kitchen roll, threw all the affected flour away and they haven't been back since !

YEUCH !!

[tinselbehindthefire]

where do they come from? Are the eggs already in the flour? ewww?

[Winston]

Yuck indeed! They are nasty little critters that are making me itch. Just made DH get all the food out the cupboards to check there none elsewhere. Am about to disinfect but would love to know if anyone knows how to prevent them?

[Winston]

tinslebehindthefire - said on internet lays hundreds of eggs in the flour that hatch and lay hundreds more. Itch, Itch, Itch!! God knows how you get them but they have screwed up my plans of making a pie!

[CheeryGarcia]

I had an infestation about 2 years ago and did what Scatterbrain suggests. Ended up throwing away anything that was 'open' (pasta, flour, noodles, cereal) regardless of whether there was any mite evidence.

No repeat so far - I check regularly!

[lucykate]

i don't think you can prevent them, all flour has them, its only a matter of time til they appear. best thing to do is buy flour in smaller quantities so you're not storing it over a long period of time. our whole kitchen in our old house got infested once, from what i read on the internet, think they are called weevils, best thing to do is empty cupboards and hoover them.

[Winston]

Thanks ladies. Will get the hoover out and begin zapping the little critters. Wish me luck!

[VeniVidiVickiQV]

Yep - as scatterbrain says - remove infested/open packages and give the cupboard a thorough clean (and dry). They wont want to be where they have no food source.

[scatterbrain]

Maybe its me - but I wouldn't want weevils in my hoover - I'd sweep 'em out and bin'em !

[Winston]

Ok, I am well a truely paranoid now! Am going to be having nightmares that they are in all my cupboards and in my hoover! Mind you, I quite fancy a new hoover so could say to DH refuse to use it as may have them in there so MUST buy new one! Bang goes new years resolution for reducing our household waste and its only 2nd Jan.

[fullmoonfiend]

oh crap. a whole new thing I didn't know about to worry about....

[anorak]

It sounds like weevils. They are in the flour already, they don't get in. If the flour was stored in a proper Tupperware container they cannot get out and so the rest of your food should be okay. It has to be real Tupperware, sealed properly to be certain though.

They can get in and out of virtually any other kind of container.

[DimpledThighs]

Weeviles in flour are one of the major sources of protein in the third world.

[farawaytree]

Hi

Many years ago I used to work in the consumer relations department of a large company that sold many different products, including cornflour and I remember when someone sent back cornfour complaining of little beasts (called psocids) it was just because of humidity. We told them to avoid having the kettle below a cabinet that contained any food as the steam made the ideal environment for them. And they just appear! They also could have become contaminated from incorrect storage in the shop - which I would have thought was more likely as they were in a sealed container. Is your kettle below the cupboard? We used to be sent back maggots in tinned toms and once a dehydrated tree frog in some dried pasta!!!

[Winston]

Kettle is beneath the cupboard and near the boiler so all in all a perfect breeding ground for them. Actually feel the lucky one reading your message about the maggots and frog, yuck! I guess there are far worse things to come across but am still itching!!

[farawaytree]

oh well glad you've sorted it then. Maybe have a shift of items around and put plates etc in that cupboard instead. Don't worry I think they only lived in powdery substances so I don' think you'll find yourself munching on some next time you reach for a biscuit!

[Bekks]

Grain weevils - they come in infected products not in all flour, maybe low quality stuff? - I got some in bird seed, but they spread to pasta, biscuits etc. As well as chucking everything out, cleaning and putting all grain stuff in containers I got insect killer for weevilly things from supermarket. It took two or three weeks for them all to go, they can live on little crumbs, but I haven't had a reinfestation since.

[blossomsmine]

I had them once, I also remember my mum having them when I was small. It was awful when I found them in the flour, to be honest I had had the flour for ages (don't bake often) so now I just buy flour when I need it and I throw away any that is left over.

[Gilly24]

I have got little moths in my food cupboard which lay eggs and turn into maggots, are they the same as weebils or flour mites

[Gilly24]

I have got little moths in my food cupboard which lay eggs and turn into maggots, are they the same as weebils or flour mites

[enjoyingscience]

No, they are different, but the treatment is the same - chuck out everything that is infested (look for live moths and larvae, but also anything with spidery web stuff on or in it. If in doubt, bin), then spend all of your money on storage jars and make sure you seal them properly.

You need to store things in air tight glass or thick plastic, they will chew paper or thin plastic bags.

You can buy moth traps from Robert Dyas for kitchen moths, but they only catch the males. They can be really persistent so cleaning and chucking is the quickest way to get rid of most of them. Good luck! They are real little fuckers.

[Panzee]

I keep my flour in the freezer.

[multipoodles]

As Panzee says, all flour in our house goes into the freezer until it' ready to be used, once frozen for a few days then taken out it doesn't seem to get them.

[acostxxx]

Quick question....people keep suggesting putting flour, etc., into sealed plastic containers to prevent the spread of the mites. I do this but I just put the flour bag, sugar bag, etc., straight into the container - should I empty the flour out of the bag and into the plastic tub? I ask because I read they like the glue in the bag and might be hiding in the folds - any ideas? It seems messy and time consuming to go to this trouble but I will if necessary.

[wildwomanofborneo123]

I've found these in my flour a few times and just ignored them. They haven't killed me, or even caused any health problems, to date.
It's highly unlikely that they would survive the heat of cooking.
Perhaps they are a ploy to make us purchase a fresh supply of the product. Lol!