Some form of bugs in dry semolina

[Creativebee]

Not sure if this is the right place to post but hoping someone will be able to help. I just went to make DH his favourite dessert (not made it for ages) and the semolina I had in a Tupperware box looked a little odd. I can’t describe it but I ran my fingers through it and I ended up with what I can only describe as very thick webbing. So at further inspection and running my fingers through the whole box, I came across a weird thing that was soft and brown (maybe larvae?). I can see some little “things” in the semolina but they seem to be dead, could I still have an infestation or could it just be in that box of semolina?

Pantry moths! I had these and it was a nightmare to get rid of them. Everything in the cupboard had to be thrown out. They were in between every bun case and even in the screws of the kitchen cupboards.

Sounds like weevils. Have you checked other grains, flour etc?

Tribollium, they will have come with the semolina. If it was in a Tupperware box nothing else should be contaminated.

There is a small mite which lives in grains and wheat. It is harmless.

Having said that you wouldn't eat it KNOWINGLY because it is yeuch. It is possibly in other stuff in your cupboard, flour, curry powder, pasta, anything flour like or containing flour. You need to put every paper bag into a plastic bag/tub and make sure it is sealed. You also need to hoover the cupboard, and wipe it out well with a solution of bleachy water, then put everything back.

If you have an infestation it is a bugger to get rid of, you have to starve them out, and they live in the corners of your cupboards, hence the hoovering and bleaching and repeated hoovering and bleaching and Tupperware becoming your friend.

Or you could move.

Sounds like pantry moths to me too and they're a bugger. Seal the semolina and throw it out. Put sticky strips up (horrible I know but better than not doing it!) in the insides of the cupboards. If no I sects go on in a few days (a week I think, but google) you're ok. Otherwise you'll need to bin everything.

Fast action is your friend right now. Google and double check against images (again, better than not doing it!).

I had similar in my pasta and went through all my cupboards and binned flour etc. Now put everything double wrapped but not had them return.

There are a lot of images on Google. Quite vivid ones ...

Thanks everyone, feeling a bit 🤮 right now, thrown the semolina (and container) away in the outside bins. Asked DH to help me get everything else out and he said “after a whole day’s work I really don’t fancy doing a marie kondo, nothing in that cupboard will spark joy” lol. He’s got the day off tomorrow so going to get on with it tomorrow. Will definitely lay some sticky tape to see if anything shows up. I had a quick look earlier and can’t see any moths, I am assuming they are like regular flying moths 🤔. I’ll check google too.

Flame-thrower. It's the only way.

I've had it in flour before. TBH the flour was stale and had been in my cupboard much too long. It was sour flour (not flower power!)

I've had weevils in me flour. And pantry moths. Bastards. Make me feel like a pauper each time I open a cupboard.

if it is moths rather than weevils (could be either, but the larvae from moths are visible and maggotty) you can get pheromone traps from robert dyas. They trap all of the boy moths so they can't breed. You still need to do all the bleaching, wiping, and tupperwareing, but they do help contain it.

Voice of bitter experience. On the plus side, my cupboards look a bit nicer now, thanks to the zillion shiny kilner jars I obsessively seal thing in...