# Bugs in food



## Mr Rossi (May 16, 2009)

We keep getting tiny little bugs in dried rice. Try to keep the cupboards clean, kept it in an air tight jar but after a few days there would be bugs crawling all through it.

My wife has came to the conclusion that the bug eggs are actually in the rice already and talking about freezing food for a 4 days prior. I'd rather not eat bug eggs, though I probably have now looking back.

Anyone else experience this, have tips etc?


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## themash (Jun 15, 2011)

I don't have any tips but in just the last week I have faced the exact same problem! Let me know if you figure it out, do you have them anywhere else except the rice?? I first found in rice, no sight of them anywhere else so i threw the rice out, and then they made it into my crunchie nut cornflakes! At 06:00 I think I did well to spot the wee ****** as the first spoonful of sugary goodness was travelling to my mouth!


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## MaidenScotland (Jun 6, 2009)

Yes the bugs are already there..I believe they are weevils and in most grains, use the fridge to keep everything even flour.

You could of course just buy small amounts of rice and wash it at soon as you get home.


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## ziokendo (Jan 7, 2012)

Mr Rossi said:


> My wife has came to the conclusion that the bug eggs are actually in the rice already and talking about freezing food for a 4 days prior. I'd rather not eat bug eggs, though I probably have now looking back.


I came to the same conclusion, after noticing that the rice in an otherwise clean jar was developing something.

I cannot be of much help since then I resumed buying air-tight italian risotto rice, as I always did all my life, cursing the day I tried this cheap one. That one is partially boiled in the factory (parboiled) so I figure it cannot have anything bad in it.


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## lxinuk (Mar 18, 2012)

MaidenScotland said:


> Yes the bugs are already there..I believe they are weevils and in most grains, use the fridge to keep everything even flour.
> 
> You could of course just buy small amounts of rice and wash it at soon as you get home.


Yep x you're right - anything wheat needs to be kept in fridge!! Unless you keep your kitchen aircon cooled!!


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## themash (Jun 15, 2011)

Thanks for advice, fridge it is then! I don't use air con and kitchen been rather hot lately so that would not help.


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## HarryK (Aug 31, 2010)

Same happened with us, it's already there. Avoid buying loose rice, flour, chickpeas from the deli styled counters. 

Going a little left field, I also found myself needing antiseptic cream when I was feeling the density of fresh pomegranate in Carrefour, unlike EU where fruits are washed these fruits still had the minuscule needles which found over a 100 firmly logged into my skin, thank god I didn't rub my eyes.


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## ra.n (Jun 2, 2012)

to get rid of bugs in the rice you have spread the rice under sun for some hours


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## kiwikid (Jun 28, 2011)

Mr Rossi said:


> We keep getting tiny little bugs in dried rice. Try to keep the cupboards clean, kept it in an air tight jar but after a few days there would be bugs crawling all through it.
> 
> My wife has came to the conclusion that the bug eggs are actually in the rice already and talking about freezing food for a 4 days prior. I'd rather not eat bug eggs, though I probably have now looking back.
> 
> Anyone else experience this, have tips etc?


We have lived in Penang, Malaysia and also the Solomon Islands. Had the same problem. Best solution is to keep dry foods like flour, rice etc in plastic containers in the freezer. Worked well for us.


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## Jynxgirl (Nov 27, 2009)

Everyone who comes over thinks I am odd, but I put EVERYTHING in the fridge or freezer now. The little bugs freak me out.


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## petrolhead (Jun 27, 2011)

Aren't these the ones otherwise known as Pharaoh ants? Ugh they're gross. Found some in my canister of sugar and nearly threw up. Like Jynxgirl, anything not airtight is kept in fridge


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## Engineer (Jan 13, 2012)

Keep A/C going very cold and you will be ok


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## Lita_Rulez (Nov 4, 2010)

I just keep every flour/rice/pea like substances in air tight jars.

From a moderated statistical analysis conducted over 6 years on a correlated sample of myself, I can assert that 85.3% of the time, they develop in buckwheat flour.

I have actually stopped buying it here, and just bring it back from home.

Having it all in jars allows to :

1. spot them easily enough
2. make sure they have stayed in the one jar, and others around are bug free.


Dispose, boil the jar, buy new stock.


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## Gavtek (Aug 23, 2009)

What happens if you just eat them? I don't fancy taking beer out of my fridge to make room for rice and flour, so what's the worst that can happen?


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## Lita_Rulez (Nov 4, 2010)

Gavtek said:


> what's the worst that can happen?


You could die.











Though technically it would not be from eating these bugs, it is still the worst that could happen.

.
..
...


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## amitgoyalamit (May 27, 2012)

Jynxgirl said:


> Everyone who comes over thinks I am odd, but I put EVERYTHING in the fridge or freezer now. The little bugs freak me out.


spread the rice in sunlight...I think the bugs are present in the rice packet itself.


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## Jynxgirl (Nov 27, 2009)

amitgoyalamit said:


> spread the rice in sunlight...I think the bugs are present in the rice packet itself.


The problem with that is I have little ants everywhere, the little ledge (I dont have a patio) tends to have nasties on it, and there is sand everywhere in the air even if you were to do this outside.

I think I will stick with the freezer/fridge. I dont see them at all in the fridge


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## aysem (May 7, 2012)

The best way is keeping everything (rice, lentils, floor, dired chick peas whatever) for the first 24 hours in deep freeze. Any place colder than -4 degrees help to kill the eggs and 24 hours is more than enough.

Using airtight jars won't work because the bugs come out of the eggs which are already in.

On the other hand having bugs show that the producer/packager did not use too many chemicals to kill everything including you on the long term.


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## amitgoyalamit (May 27, 2012)

aysem said:


> On the other hand having bugs show that the producer/packager did not use too many chemicals to kill everything including you on the long term.


lol..thats true but they are killing us in a different way


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## aysem (May 7, 2012)

amitgoyalamit said:


> lol..thats true but they are killing us in a different way



The bugs are harmless just disgusting. Less processed food contain more eggs, that is why you will see more bugs happily jogging in your brown rice than in your bleached white rice.

Anyway, I hate seeing them and they spread like a plague to everything edible. So after every supermarket run , almost everything goes to the freezer for overnight. No bugs for the last 5 years.


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## MaidenScotland (Jun 6, 2009)

amitgoyalamit said:


> lol..thats true but they are killing us in a different way




or maybe it is just the lack of hygiene on the packers part.


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## MaidenScotland (Jun 6, 2009)

I remember in Tehran early 70s my friend screaming because rats were running over the sacks of rice etc in the shops and the shop keeper couldnt understand her concern... no packaging in those days...


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## Lita_Rulez (Nov 4, 2010)

aysem said:


> Using airtight jars won't work because the bugs come out of the eggs which are already in.


It's always the same : it depends what your purpose is.

Airtight jars are not destined to prevent the bugs from getting in, they are destined to keep them contained to the one product they came in with.

This way I can :

1. Get rid or product and bugs without having to empty all cupboards and gas the kitchen.
2. Confirm which brands/products I am having repeated issues with, and stop buying them.





aysem said:


> On the other hand having bugs show that the producer/packager did not use too many chemicals to kill everything including you on the long term.


Again, it's a matter of point of view. I don't like the idea of being slowly poisoned by chemicals on everything, but I don't fancy buying products to throw them away either. I want what I buy to be edible.

Therefore, by keeping it in jars and identifying which producer is consistently pushing bad products, I can stop buying from them. 

I do not want to give my business to a lazy producer who does nothing just because it prevents me giving it to the lazy producer who sprays it full of toxins...


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