Flies in my oven

[BeverlyGoldberg]

Mumsnet I need some help.

The past two times we have had oven chips we have noticed small flies on them on the plate. We changed the brand we get, thinking it was the chips, it wasn't. Tonight with a new bag, completely different brand, we again noticed flies.

The oven was professionally cleaned fairly recently. Our kitchen is clean. We haven't noticed flies around the kitchen.

What is happening to us? Where are they coming from? Is this a common problem

Please no judgment. We're not filthy animals. We need advice, not a roasting!

Pots of herbs in kitchen? Chuck them out they may be in the compost.

We had similar but with our gas fire. We had maggot and flies coming out which I hoovered up and put in bin. We realised we'd had a nest on the chimney and we that a dead bird must have fallen in there. We got the chimney swept and got a thing on chimney to stop birds getting in. We've not had any problems since. Could there a dead any animal or rotten meat that have fallen somewhere out of sight?

Your oven needs pulling out and examining - there are plenty of places flies can get in - integrated ovens have hidden venting and padding to protect against heat and let the air circulate. There'll be a little piece of decomposing food, rotten fruit or a spillage somewhere that is acting as a resrvoir....

If it's a freestanding -have you checked the tray warmer integrated into the base that nobody ever, ever uses and is an ideal place for spillages to accumulate.....

It has to be the vinegar; those flies don't look cooked...

@BeverlyGoldberg come back! I’m worryingly interested in this. In fact it made me examine my basil plant, and I noticed it was infested with little white flies, so that’s gone in the bin!

Oh Mumsnet you flipping LEGENDS!

It's the vinegar. Just emptied it out into a glass and there are three flies in there.

Thank you thank you thank you!

It was honestly baffling me. I've baked bread in my oven this morning and no flies. We did chicken last night and put tin foil over it to see what happened - nothing.

We put fruit in there last night and nothing. I'd stripped out all the shelves, the oven liner, all the baking trays.

I just can't believe you've solved it for us!

Again - thank you. You've saved me sanity and possibly hundreds of pounds on a new oven!

There was only a tiny amount of vinegar left ... here they are, the little bastards...

Mystery solved! Well done whoever suggested it!

Yuck! I was reading about home made fruit fly traps earlier Nd guess what, they use vinegar!!

Vinegar? Blimey, I'm astonished. Thought it killed everything. Do they lay eggs in it? Or get in when bottle open? Anyone got an explanation?

I honestly can't believe you've solved it.

In hindsight @Knittedfairies was right - the flies didn't look crispy or cooked - but they're so small it wasn't obvious.

Our oven was professionally cleaned a few months ago and we keep on top of it. It's far from pristine but I'd say it's a normal standard. We could see there were no 'bodies' on the oven liner.

It also explains why when we had two baked things in the oven, only the chips were affected. The night I posted I had done a baked fish fillet with oven chips - the fish was unaffected because.

If I could invite you all round for a fly-free dinner to say thank you, I would!

@longwayoff they must have been attracted to the smell, gone in for a dip and died.

Thank god they were preserved!

those flies don't look cooked

in the light of the "do you preheat your oven?" thread that comment made me laugh inordinately more than it should have

Yes! I never put vinegar on chips so never even thought! I bet you will have your vinegar under lock and key from now on!

Enjoy your chips!

@QueefLatifah the vinegar thing is already in the bin! I haven't figured out what the future will look like for vinegar in our house. I'll be totally triggered by the very sight of it.

It was baffling that it was only affecting chips - then I wondered if we'd been eating flies for every meal but only noticed them on chips.

The cries of needing to clean the house etc didn't help. Our house is very average, nor pristine but not a mess, the idea of flies breeding and festering was not a happy one!

Thank goodness it's all over.

What I can’t understand though, OP, if it WAS the vinegar, is you not noticing that there were no flies on the chips when they were on your plate before you put your seasoning on them. So when you got them out of the oven, no flies. Post vinegar - flies. Should have been a light bulb moment?

Can I suggest that you get your eyesight checked?

@CurlyhairedAssassin thanks for the tip. Actually I have just had new glasses so maybe they're not that hot.

In my defence the first of us noticing was always when the chips were on the plate - we never even questioned that they hadn't been there previously when we dished up, we just presumed we had missed them.

This is the most bizarre exciting thread I've ever read on Mumsnet