Christmas is over and the last cookies may have been eaten. Now we can safely put the Advent baking until next year ad acta. But if you only bring out your baking ingredients during the Christmas season, you may be in for a crawling surprise. Nuts, dried fruit and the like are at the top of the menu for storage pests. Caked flour and webs are the first signs.
Where do pests come from in the kitchen?
In principle, almost all foods are at risk, only salt, sugar and pure fats are spurned. Baking ingredients that are rarely used and spend most of their time in dark corners provide ideal hiding places for pests, plenty of nutrients and plenty of time to multiply.
Most pantry pests are already bought in, but food left out in the open, leftovers and rarely emptied trash cans also attract the uninvited guests. Heated homes and warm, humid kitchens favor their activities.
Threat to health
The pests found in baking ingredients mainly cause feeding damage. Skin residues, feces, spider threads, hairs or dead animals are not only disgusting, they can also cause skin irritations and diseases, allergies of the respiratory organs, conjunctivitis as well as intestinal diseases.
PROFILE of some storage pests: flour mite.
The flour mite prefers to attack flour, cereals but also dried fruit. The affected products are like covered by a light layer of dust, become crumbly, smell sweet and taste bitter.
Cereal leaf beetle
Both the beetle itself and its larvae feed on cereals, nuts, almonds and chocolate. One of the most common pests in the home, it can also gnaw open packaging. When infested, cereals become moist and lumpy.
Bread Beetle
Bread beetles are omnivores that will eat baked goods, soup cubes, chocolate and pet food, as well as salt dough pastries and even chili seasoning. Is one of the most common pests in the house, flies very well and thus penetrates into the apartments. In case of infestation, you can see about pinhead-sized holes in the food.
Rice flour beetle
Rice flour beetle infested cereal grains look completely normal on the outside, but are hollow on the inside; also infests nuts and dried fruit. A musty odor occurs when infested.
Flour moth
Flour moth caterpillars eat, brace, and soil flour products, as well as almonds, nuts, chocolate, and dried fruit. Infestations first reveal webs (cobweb-like threads that cause flour, for example, to clump together.
Dried fruit moth
The caterpillars of the moth live on dried fruit, i.e. raisins, figs and juniper berries. However, they are also found in nuts, almonds, dried fruit and chocolate. In case of infestation, feeding damage is visible. The caterpillars form strong webs especially before they pupate.
React already at the first suspicion
Even the first signs should be reason to thoroughly check all dry provisions. Infested food should be thrown away. To prevent the pests from moving in again, the infested food can be placed in the oven at 80 degrees for one hour. Only then do you put them in the trash.
Prevent pests in food
Closely inspect newly purchased produce and store in tightly sealed containers (screw-top jars, cans) and in a cool, dry place. Keep pantry or storage cabinets scrupulously clean, wipe out damp occasionally, then dry well. Do not use chemical pesticides – except attractant traps – in the immediate vicinity of food. If you cannot control the pests in this way, you should hire a professional exterminator.
Reliable addresses can be found at the German Pest Control Association.
Order information material: Further information in the aid booklet “Vorratsschädlinge” order no. 78-1075 with the aid selling DVG for 1.00 euro plus postage and packing against calculation, Tel. 02225 926-146 or -176.
Source: aid infodienst
