Weevils in Homepride pre-sieved SR flour?

[RhymesWithBouquet]

Hi all

Mum bought this flour yesterday, opened it today and made a cake with it.

I went to make another one this evening but found loads of little brown bits in it when I sieved it (out of habit, I hadn't even noticed that it was pre-sieved until I re-checked the pack to make sure I hadn't used wholemeal by accident.)

Whatever it is can't have come from our cupboard because it was new and it's packaged in the cardboard container with an airtight lid, as opposed to being in just a paper bag.

I showed it to DM, who then admits she saw some herself when she baked her cake. She is now stomping about the place, convinced she's being accused of trying to poison us all, as we've all tried the cake she made earlier.*

AIBU or is it weevils?

Thanks in advance!

She's paranoid af
I'm pretty sure we're not all going to die a horrible death, even if it is weevils, but she likes a bit of drama and to feel like I've got it in for her
* No, I don't get it either, but the self-pity and ill-suppressed rage from the entirely imagined victimhood keeps her occupied in her retirement I suppose 🙄

Mumsnet photos never enlarge on my phone so I can't really tell but when we had weevils in some flour, they were very wriggly.

I was going to say that it was just flour husks. However on enlarging the picture I afraid it does look like weevils. they will eat you up from your insides

I've only ever seen live weevils but agree that your photo looks like dead ones - otherwise I'd have assumed it was husks too. I would never bake anything with weevils in, live or dead!

They look like flour mites

I'm not sure from that picture, but when we got weevils (it happened about once a year) the flour actually moved.
However, I would bin the flour (outside bin), and do a very careful inspection of any carbs in the vicinity (flour, rice, pasta, biscuits.......).
They can get through card, plastic......

You may have had residual weevils

Thanks for your responses everyone. I contacted Homepride customer services, let's see what they say. Fortunately it was only in the cupboard overnight and had been opened just a few hours before I noticed it, so I don't think it would have affected anything else in there.

Customer services asked for pics and say 21 days for a response... I was going to yeet it straight into the bin but I feel like I don't want these little critters in my wheelie bin! Needs to go back to Sainsbury's and they can deal with it!

Flour mites. Not that unusual. Wouldn't use the rest but it won't have done you any harm. Just clear out the rest of the cupboard and check any other bags of flour. If you don't see any more it must have come from the bag in question.

Eurgh!
I spent my Bank Holiday Monday afternoon cleaning out sodding weevils from my baking cupboard. Some of our flour & other carbs are kept in Kilner jars, but others (specialty flours) we're in bags in the cupboard. Had to chuck every one. They were definitely alive & kicking!
At least it was 1 bag & not 8.

I'm pretty sure it came from that pack. We checked the other flour we have and it was fine. Mum bought it on Monday afternoon, it wasn't opened until yesterday afternoon and (fortunately) it was in that cardboard packaging so a bit more robust than the regular paper bags.

Too late to trek to Sainsbury's tonight so I've stuck it in the freezer to keep any critters that might still be alive in check until we can return it tomorrow.

Yikes! So sorry that happened! You said specialty flours but you didn't happen to have the any Homepride in your cupboards did you?

I imagine this pack got contaminated in production, given the nature of the packaging and the fact that it looks like the remnants of hatched eggs rather than live bugs, so it's possible there's a whole faulty batch of the stuff out there.

No, no HomePride. I'm pretty sure it was two bags of Self Raising from Aldi - as one bag went in a kilner jar (airtight) & had weevils; & the other bag was in the cupboard. The bags closest to it were the worst affected but all bags, even unopened ones had them. Lost several ryes, gluten free flours, self-raising & wholemeals.
I'm buying more kilner jars tbh, so any future infestations are contained.

I always freeze bags of flour after a serious weevil infestation a few years ago. Never had nay since.

@Marigoldilock how long do you freeze them for?

Might be worth sticking a few bay leaves in any flour from now on as a deterrent. I also have a few loose on the shelves in my baking cupboard. This is the only think I’ve found that works after years of living in old, damp houses.

We used to freeze flour abroad.
One bag in the cupboard, one bag in the freezer. When warm flour ran out, "promote" freezer flour, and buy a new bag for the freezer.
You can use the flour directly from the freezer if desperate!

Our local shop (the only supermarket for about 100 miles) often has weevils in new bags of flour, checked direct from the shop. Maybe one in three bags? There are nowhere near as many as in your photo though. They are wriggly - if you have good eyes you can see them walking.
Getting weevil free flour reliably would probably mean going to Inverness, so we have embraced the weevil! They die when you cook them, and are good protein 😆

I freeze new bags for 2 days when I buy. Then store in the cupboard in a tupperware type box. I've separately had a weevil and a flour mite infestation, so try to keep up this routine now.

Weevils will be wriggling around, easy to spot. They are in the flour when you buy it, well the eggs can be. A bag sat unused for a long time and particularly in a warm place will have the eggs hatching. While storing flours in airtight containers helps to contain any contamination, it won't stop you getting them in your flour.
Your whole cupboard needs disinfecting and all flour products binning, even if they look ok as the females bite through paper packaging and lay their eggs inside.

I have the same thing today, it looks like husk to me. I bought mine yesterday from sainsbury's and only opened it this an hour ago.

I’d take that straight back. There shouldn’t be any husk, it’s supposed to be pre-sieved after all!

Forgot to update to say the supermarket took it back and gave us a refund, no arguments at all.

We also got the mail below from the manufacturer:

(NB the first link puts the blame squarely on the purchaser with claims about research showing it can’t have happened in store or during manufacturing. However
(a) that’s a LOT of residue for a pack you’d only had for one day and
(b) interestingly, our pack came from Sainsburys too…

Whats the batch number out of curiosity?)

Mail from manufacturer:

“Thank you for taking the time to let us know about your purchase.

We take pride in the quality of our products and any instances of dissatisfaction are taken very seriously. We are grateful to you for providing details of your complaint which has been passed to our QA team.

These insects are normally regarded as pests of paper or cardboard packaging and as such they are sometimes found in the packaging of dry food stuffs. Our production site is subject to strict pest control and hygiene procedures to ensure that our premises are kept free of any infestations. However, it is possible that cross infestation from other paper wrapped goods such as breakfast cereals and sugar takes place during subsequent distribution and storage. We have included the below two links which we hope you will find informative:

www.ukflourmillers.org/psocids

fabflour.co.uk/fab-flour/how-to-store-flour/

We will use this information as part of our continual improvements to ensure that the quality of our products is always of the highest standard.

We have the facility to send e-vouchers which need to be printed in order to redeem in store. Please note that printing from a mobile device (smartphones, tablets) is not presently supported. We recommend you print from a laptop or desktop computer using a physical printer. The software is compatible with operating systems of Windows 7 or higher and Mac OS X 10.9 (Mavericks) or higher.

Could you please advise if you would like to receive an e-voucher? Alternatively, we are in a position to send you one through the post but please note this may take a few weeks to arrive to you.

Yours sincerely

Anca
Consumer Relations Department”