# Creepy crawly weevils in flour



## Flutterby (Mar 5, 2013)

As if I haven't got enough to do at the moment I was just about to start baking some dairy and gluten free cakes for when my friend comes tomorrow - got the flour out and there were weevils in it!  Checked all the other flour (although it wouldn't have been suitable for her) and creepy crawlies in it too.  

I gotta be honest and say that it's saved me a job!  I will get something from Tesco or Sainsbury's tomorrow before she arrives.

Funny how sometimes you are just secretly pleased 

Does anyone have a method of storing flour that keeps the little pests out?  Or are they already there in egg form when you buy it?


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## cherrypie (Mar 5, 2013)

Is the flour still in date?
I had this problem once with a newish bag of flour and they had invaded other groceries including rice and pasta, dessicated coconut and were in the beans that I keep to soak.
I made a list of things destroyed and took it back to where I bought it and they compensated me.

I now decant all dried goods, including flour, into a container with a tight lid.

I think they must lay their eggs where the flour is produced?


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## Austin Mini (Mar 5, 2013)

I store my bread making flour in a Tupperware type container which is airtight. These containers can be bought quite cheaply from most supermarkets.


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## KateR (Mar 5, 2013)

Austin Mini said:


> I store my bread making flour in a Tupperware type container which is airtight. These containers can be bought quite cheaply from most supermarkets.



Me too. Never had weevils though.


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## Northerner (Mar 5, 2013)

Can you not just sieve them out?


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## Flutterby (Mar 5, 2013)

Yes it was in date but had been open about 6 months.  I will get some containers and try that.  I know we used to store it in a glass screw top jar but still had them.  I checked all the open flour and sure enough it had got in all of them.  Never thought of taking it back, CherryPie but I think you are right and the eggs are in it when we buy.  Had a bit of a google earlier!  Thank you all.


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## Flutterby (Mar 5, 2013)

Northerner said:


> Can you not just sieve them out?



Northy - what a good idea!  Tell you what I will make some cakes for the next meet in Birmingham


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## Lauras87 (Mar 5, 2013)

I had brown bugs in my flour the other month.
Big bag, barely used & in date but they weren't weevils (I had a google)

But seriously, flour comes with the eggs in it???


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## Cat1964 (Mar 5, 2013)

I had weevils in a big bag of pasta, I didn't notice them at first. I did see some black bits floating in the boiling water. The pasta bag was see through and lived in an eye level cupboard. One day I went into the cupboard for ome thing and thought I saw something move in the pasta. On closer inspection I was horrified and binned every bit of pasta that I had.....yuck.


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## Flutterby (Mar 5, 2013)

Urgh Laura - wonder what yours were then?  Don't quote me but the impression I get is that there can be eggs in the flour, I don't know how else they get in - surely we'd see them making their way into the cupboard - urgh this is gross!

Cat - I made my birthday cake just a few weeks ago with some of the contaminated flour!  It may not have been contaminated then I suppose but I wouldn't like to bet on it!  I'm still alive though!


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## LeeLee (Mar 5, 2013)

Your flour had added protein that's not equine... keep quiet or it might catch on!


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## Flutterby (Mar 5, 2013)

Lol that's very true, might have been very nutritious!


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## HelenP (Mar 5, 2013)

Could they have been psocids?  I'd never heard of these until Sainsbury's issued leaflets about them a few years ago.  They are often found in flour, but do not actually come from the flour, they actually live in the folds of the packaging itself and in food cupboards, and find their way into the flour.  Or something like that, I can't remember exactly.................

Okay, Ive looked them up, and found this article.

http://www.kcl.ac.uk/ip/bryanturner/other/home_psocids.html

xx


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## Tina63 (Mar 6, 2013)

They have talked about them on food hygiene courses I have to attend, but my memory is so poor I can't remember anything about it.  I have always stored my flour in old ice cream containers.  That way they all stack nicely in my cupboard - 3 types of flour, sugar, raisins, nuts, etc and I can honestly say I have never seen them before.  I do bake fairly regularly, so flour doesn't last too long, but I think if I did see them I would freak out a bit.  Mind you, this is from someone who was brought up in the countryside, mice in the pantry was a common occurrence, caterpillars served up on your plate amongst the cabbage, and the odd baby slug crawling out of the supposedly washed lettuce on the Sunday tea table!

Oh memories eh?  Enough to give you nightmares!


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## LeeLee (Mar 6, 2013)

No point stressing over what's already been eaten.  Growing up in Canada, my baby brother used to eat Colorado Potato Beetle grubs.  He grew up to be a 6-footer!


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## Flutterby (Mar 6, 2013)

Thanks Helen, hard to tell really, the ones I found were more of a black colour and I just assumed they were the weevils.  I'm going to give the cupboard a good clean out another day (when my friend has gone back home - unless she wants to help!) and check everything else.  Then I will get some airtight containers and try again.

Love your stories Tina - we used to grow raspberries in the garden when I was a child and I never used to wash them properly.  In the end the rest of the family refused to eat any that I had supposedly washed which suited me just fine!  I think I got my fair share of protein. Like your brother LeeLee although I'm not a 6 footer!


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