What Are These Flour Bugs in My Pantry?

It’s a beautiful Sunday morning and you want to make a nice breakfast of biscuits and gravy for your family. So you lay everything out and go to grab your flour. Wait a minute…are those tiny bugs in the container? Ewww.

These tiny beetles will infiltrate your flour and the other dry goods in your pantry. With the cost of food constantly increasing in New Jersey and abroad, you can’t afford to let an infestation wipe out your precious supply. You must learn methods to help prevent and eliminate these bugs from your kitchen.

No matter the type, they all love dried foods and don’t need the package to be opened to find their way inside. These pests are voracious, so they can devour anything that they can gain access to.

While their mouths are often too small to break into plastic packaging, they can get in during the packing process and lay eggs. If the eggs hatch and are inside a bag, they will contaminate the product as they eat their way through it. Here are the most infested food products in your pantry:

• Cake mixes
• Cornmeal
• Sugar
• Oatmeal
• Cracker meal
• Buckwheat

• Bulgar
• Dried fruit
• Tea
• Beans
• Pet food
• Anything powdered

One would think it’s easy to identify and get rid of pantry beetles, but it’s not always so straightforward. It’s often hard to see these insects, and the eggs they lay aren’t always detectable to the naked eye. Have you ever wondered how those bugs got into your food?

Most of these pantry bugs find their way into your food supply at the warehouse. Warehouses across the country store food for weeks or even months. So, it’s easy for them to get into your goods at these locations. In addition to the warehouse, they can be transported from the processing plant.

Manufacturers that make cereal and other goods must have their facilities sprayed constantly. Mice, rats, and other pests easily find their way into these buildings. Most companies store things like flour and spices in grain silos, and that’s the perfect place for a pantry beetle to feast.

Another possibility is that they were picked up during transport. Between the manufacturing company, the warehouse, and the grocery store, many variables can introduce them to the food. These places might not realize they have a problem due to the fact the eggs can’t be detected. The eggs can easily be passed from one facility to another, and once inside your home it’s too late.

Many folks don’t know they have a problem right away. They only notice the bugs in their flour when they see these tiny brown or black beetles moving around their food supply.

Identifying which of these bugs you’re dealing with is one of the best ways to quickly resolve an infestation. Here are the most common pantry beetles and other small bugs and their unique characteristics.

Cigarette Beetle

The cigarette beetle isn’t as common in New Jersey homes as it is in warehouses that store tobacco. Still, there’s a chance these bugs can get into your pantry in dried foods. This bug is small at around 3.5 mm in length. It’s got an oval body and a dark brown color.

Unlike the other beetles, this one is covered in tiny hairs. It is attracted to light so you might see them flying around and hovering over your light fixtures. This beetle is also drawn to sage, so if you store any of this in bulk, you might find them dining on it.

Drugstore Beetle

Drugstore beetles are bugs that measure about 3.5 mm in length. They love to invade things like beans, teas, seeds, and even your pet’s food supply. Their hard shell is brown, and they have hairy wings. There’s also a distinguishing line of dots on their back.

The larva of this beetle is white and hairy. This bug is named the drugstore beetle because they have a penchant for prescription medications. Be careful with this one, as it will also chew on non-food items. They love wool clothing and anything leather.

Spider Beetles

These beetles get their name for their resemblance to spiders. Their bodies are round and can get up to 5 mm in length, which makes them one of the largest flour bugs. A couple of varieties of this beetle include the smooth spider beetle, American, and white marked.

The American spider beetle differs from the others by having a brown fuzzy coating on its body. However, their legs are a shade lighter. The white marked spider beetle is also dark brown, but it has white spots and tan hairs that cover its body.

Saw-toothed Grain Beetle

Grain beetles are long and slender. They’re similarly colored with red, brown, or black color varieties and are about 2-3 mm in length. They get their name from their teeth, which have a saw-like shape and their heads are uniquely triangled in form. They love seeds, chocolate, and cereals. This is one beetle that you can quickly freeze and kill.

Flour bugs are one of the biggest threats to your groceries–even more so than mice. The first key to stopping these situations is to use prevention. Preventative measures will save your wallet and sanity from dealing with these bugs.

The best way to keep them from getting indoors is to use airtight containers. When you keep the cereal and other products in cardboard boxes, it’s like rolling out the welcome mat to the hungry beetle. Plastic BPA-free containers cannot be penetrated by their teeth, and these containers will keep most pests out of your supply.

It’s best to transfer your products as soon as you bring them into your home in order to help protect them. Remember, you could have an issue and not know it until it’s too late. Another way to keep these flour beetles from getting into your food is to ensure there are no open bags and boxes.

If your children enter your pantry and spill cereal or other flour around, they invite them to come and dine. Throw out anything that’s out of date, as not only is it compromised, but it’s also a typical hot spot. Another popular way to store dried goods is in the freezer. Did you know that the freezer will kill the pantry beetle and other insects’ eggs?

Spending four days in the freezer is all it takes to kill off anything that might be lurking inside your packaging. Some folks have chest freezers and keep as many dried goods as possible. Thus, they don’t have to worry about such incidents.

The silver lining about these bugs is that they are not harmful to you. They can’t bite, and these little pests don’t carry any type of disease. However, you must remember they do use the restroom as they eat. Which no one even wants to think about happening in their food.

1. Toss the Contaminated Food

The first thing you want to do upon noticing bugs in your pantry is to get rid of all the food that’s been contaminated. Remember, these bugs don’t carry disease and are no threat to you, but you don’t want them crawling around in the food you use. Many try to remove the bugs if they see 1-2 and not dump a whole 25 lb. bag of flour.

It’s understandable to want to save food, but you must consider that even if there were only two bugs in the flour, there are probably still eggs sitting in there waiting to hatch. As much as it hurts, you must throw out the everything that was contaminated. Make sure you put the trashed items in a sealed baggie in a container, as you don’t want to cause an issue of cross contamination.

2. Vacuum The Area

Next, you want to vacuum the area to remove any eggs or bugs and mop up any spills that might cause you issues. Even if you get rid of these bugs, you might still attract other vermin if you don’t clean up the area properly.

3. Wipe Down Everything

Be sure to wipe down the pantry shelves with hot, soapy water and clean the countertops too. You never know what germs are left behind or what eggs might be lying around. Remember, some of the eggs are microscopic, and you won’t be able to identify them until they’ve turned into larvae.

4. Use a Pesticide

The last step is to use a pesticide that’s food safe. You want to kill off any stragglers and prevent them from returning. If you miss just one of these bugs, your nightmare can start all over again.

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