Does anyone know how to deal with grain weevils?

My wife and I were going to make pasta this weekend and we pulled out a box of spaghetti, only to find several very small (1 to 2 mm) black insects in the box. Unfortunately, this has happened a couple times before.

After looking up on the internet, I think these might be grain weevils, tiny insects who feed on grains and pastas.

Given that this has happened before, I am wondering how to deal with these annoying bugs who have forced us to throw out several boxes of pasta. Does anyone have any previous grain weevil expertise they can share with me?

Next open and inspect every box, jar, and plastic container with any grain product or ground spice. If you find evidence of the bugs, either clean them out (for pasta that you'll use soon) or throw them out (flour, rice, other products where segregating and remove all of the bugs would be to hard.)
In addition to the black bugs themselves, look for a ropelike strand. That's a nest, and it's best to toss the product with that much of an infestation.

Next, buy pheromone traps. "Pantry Pest" is the most well known brand but there are others.
Install the traps in every cupboard where you've seen a grain moth or an infested product.

Lastly, think about where you purchased the spaghetti. If it's always been from the same store, do yourself a favor and start buying it somewhere else. Some stores have older product with slower turnover and that's just asking for a grain moth invasion. Any grocery store can have products with grain bugs, but the cheapo outlets seem more prone to it.

it's best to choose the lesser of two weevils.

All of their body mass comes from the grain product that you were going to eat anyway, so what's the problem? :rofl:

This is what we call a "teachable moment" in the education biz. Insects are our single greatest global competitor for food.

Throw away any affected stored food products and close their replacements in air-tight containers. It's not a big problem.

...but once you've seen them in your food before you eat it, you sort of lose your appetite.

Bugman?

:rofl:

Pass the pasta con weevils al bolognese, please. :9

...although there are some other stored food pest orders, too. The "weevils" in the OP are beetles.

Wheat, corn, rice, peanuts, beans, potatoes, onions etc are grown out in the dirt, not in a clean lab somewhere. The harvest is sifted, washed, inspected and inspected again, but inevitably an occasional mouse, rat, bird, remains of mouse, rat or bird, leavings of mouse, rat or bird etc get through. That's why there are limits on food contamination but no straight ban. The law is meant to insure that everything reasonably possible has been done to keep your food safe. 25 years ago, the practice in summer months was to put tabs into box cars of grain that released poison gas. The assumption was that by the time the grain got to where it was going, all the active bugs would be dead. When it got cold enough, the poison was left out on the grounds that the bugs froze to death. Periodically, the cereal plant that I worked at would be sealed and fumigated top to bottom, grain silos to warehouse. (I couldn't tell you what is done today.) However, these practices kill active insects ONLY. Anyone who has ever dealt with fleas will tell you that the eggs survive. Any and every box of grain products that you buy will still have some viable eggs inside. If the conditions are right, the eggs will hatch.

The solution is to keep your grain products cool and rotated.

Wheat, corn, rice, peanuts, beans, potatoes, onions etc are grown out in the dirt, not in a clean lab somewhere. The harvest is sifted, washed, inspected and inspected again, but inevitably an occasional mouse, rat, bird, remains of mouse, rat or bird, leavings of mouse, rat or bird etc get through. That's why there are limits on food contamination but no straight ban. The law is meant to insure that everything reasonably possible has been done to keep your food safe. 25 years ago, the practice in summer months was to put tabs into box cars of grain that released poison gas. The assumption was that by the time the grain got to where it was going, all the active bugs would be dead. When it got cold enough, the poison was left out on the grounds that the bugs froze to death. Periodically, the cereal plant that I worked at would be sealed and fumigated top to bottom, grain silos to warehouse. (I couldn't tell you what is done today.) However, these practices kill active insects ONLY. Anyone who has ever dealt with fleas will tell you that the eggs survive. Any and every box of grain products that you buy will still have some viable eggs inside. If the conditions are right, the eggs will hatch.

The solution is to keep your grain products cool and rotated.

...weevils can be exceptionally unreasonable in their demands. :hide:

You really have to check EVERYTHING! I even found their nests in boxes of freezer bags, and in the corners of disposable aluminum pans.

If you open anything and see a "weblike" appearance, that is another sign that product is infested.

I no longer keep bird seed in my pantry.

Consider your source. If you've used the same grocery over time, they might be supplying reinforcements periodically. You might need to change stores *if* you suspect this is true. If they store stock in the back for extended periods

They will show up, occasionally, from any store and will always be a possibility. You can inspect and repackage everything as soon as it's bought, that might help.

rice from the Indian Market.

Cornmeal will hatch those suckers in a heartbeat and then they travel. I keep all my grain goods in Tupperware canisters and if I have cornmeal I buy in very small quantities and keep in freezer.

If they are in freezer eggies won't hatch.

So you have to inspect all your stuff first and toss everything that has them. Clean out all your shelves etc, wipe down with vinegar. When replacing your flour, meal baking mix, etc. keep in air tight containers.

freeze your cornmeal.

That way if you take a pack of spaghetti home and it hatches some critters, you're out only that pack of spaghetti, instead of every starchy thing in that cabinet.

:nuke:

And when you deal the cards, use a microscope to make sure they are face down. Weevils hate cheaters.

....then it gets disgusting. Get the pantry moth traps and get rid of them. It takes a long time.

I hate that.

I had a rash of little moths and weevils in my pantry a few years ago and a chef friend told me to keep any grain products -- pasta, flour, rice, breakfast cereals, couscous etc etc -- in airtight containers (screwtop plastic storage jars are fine) with a bay leaf or two in the bottom of each one.

The scent of bay, he told me, kills off any bug eggs. It has worked beautifully, and it doesn't seem to matter whether the leaves are fresh or dried. Haven't noticed any bay flavour, not that it would worry me much -- a hint of bay goes with most things.

I'll have to remember that.