How can I save flour from little insects? [duplicate]

Red and white little insects appeared in the flour.Are these harmful for flour? How can I save flour from those?

flour

Best Answer

There's no way to make your flour completely safe after it gets infested with bugs. You could sieve the flour and the mesh will separate the bugs, however any diseases carried by the bugs would be left in the flour as will bug droppings (i.e. insect excrement). Cooking it may kill whatever nasty stuff the bugs leave behind, but it may not so the safest thing to do is throw it away. If it's use the flour or people go hungry then sieve it and cook it, but if you don't have to it's not worth the risk.

I keep flour in a sealed plastic container, it keeps it fresher and bug free.

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Quick Answer about "How can I save flour from little insects? [duplicate]"

Freeze the flour. This will kill any eggs or weevils that are already in the flour. You can then take the flour out and store it in your pantry in an airtight, hard container or just keep it in the freezer until you need it.

How do you separate flour and insects?

Freeze and kill it: It is advised to keep packets of spices and flour in the freezer for four days as soon as you have bought it. You can do this to flour, oats, cookies, corn meal, and spices. This will kill all the larvae and eggs (if) present inside the packet and will stop further infestation.

How do you know if bugs are in your flour?

Flour mites are very small insects in flour that are almost invisible to the naked eye. They have white bodies and brown coloured legs and usually live in flours, grains and cereals. Weevils are larger than flour mites and so are easier to spot. They also have a darker body, being brown in colour.

What do weevils look like in flour?

If you notice little brown bugs in your flour, cereal, grain or rice, those are called weevils. Weevils look like little grains of rice, but they're brown and they move.

How do weevils get into flour UK?

Adult weevils will enter your home through cracks or openings around foundations, doors and windows. Most often, weevils will look for shelter when the weather becomes too unbearable for them, especially when it's hot and dry outside.

Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

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