Is It Safe To Eat Flour With Bugs In It?
Most of us have opened an ancient bag of white flour from the back of our pantry and discovered something horrific — bugs, otherwise knows as flour weevils. These little bugs are actually in the beetle family and are specifically attracted to flour, except — health food folks, rejoice — whole wheat flour. If you aren't down to make the switch, there's some bad news: It's very difficult weevils from invading your flour because these bugs are prevalent. It starts at the mill, so you have little hope of preventing as infestation. Once you have a bag with a female beetle it's game over. She lays eggs in the food and packaging, and they're so small that they're hard to detect. It's almost certain that anyone who has used white flour has consumed these tiny beetles in some form (via Extra Crispy). These little bugs are no doubt disgusting, but are they dangerous?
Flour weevils are safe to consume — to a point
Lightly infested products — which many of us have in our cupboards without knowing — can be consumed safely. If you're concerned about flour weevil consumption, it's recommended that you heat the flour up before eating it, or you can freeze it for four days. Just be sure not to microwave the flour on its own because you might have another issue on your plate — a fire. If you have a really intense case of weevils, definitely throw the product in the trash bin because it could be spoiled or a source of foodborne illness (via the University of Idaho).
No one wants to start a fun baking session with an abundance of small critters in their ingredients, but luckily there are ways to prevent these party-crashers, provided they aren't already present from the mill. The easiest method is to simply store your flour correctly — yes there's a right and a wrong way to store flour. Keep it in an air-tight, sealed container instead of the paper bag it comes in. If you are still feeling nervous about the whole thing, you can just stick it in the freezer and save yourself from the uncomfortable encounter.
Sayonara, weird weevils!