What and where did this bug come from?

Question

I was just making cookies and when I was mixing the dry and wet ingredients together I found one tiny orangy worm (probably a maggot). I am totally freaked about it. I poured out the sugar and the flour and did not find another one in either bag. (I threw EVERYTHING away) Plus I sifted all the dry ingredients before mixing so I am stumped on where it came from. I also used butter, shortening, and eggs. Is it possible it came from those ingredients? I want to figure this out I am about to throw out every bit of food I have. HELP!!! I feel so grossed out now. This has never happened to me.

Answer 1

no clue as to where it came from. Was it one of the little flour weevils? they can be orangy or tanish colored. And there could have been just one. They come in the flour from the flour mills. Most of the time they don't hatch out.

Keep all flour products in the freezer, or in plastic sealed containers, and put bay leaf in every product you have in your kitchen. It keeps them from hatching or appearing and spreading.

Bay leaf is an herb that usually comes in whole leaf form dried in the spices aisle in the grocery store. Yes, they are sort of expensive, but how expensive is it to be grossed out and toss all your foods?

Answer 2

Myabe you'll find a photo of the culprit in this guide to pantry pests-

http://lancaster.unl.edu/pest/resources/...

Answer 3

Your bug most likely hitched a ride from the grocery store.  

Pantry pests do not go away without some dedicated assistance. Whether you see the common Indian-meal moth, beetles, weevils, or worms, attack the situation immediately.

You'll spot each pantry pest in different ways. Pour out a bag of rice and you'll find tiny worms. A cup of flour may be filled with weevils. Or you'll find the quite decorative Indian-meal moth flying about.

In most cases, they are harmless, but definitely an appetite suppressor. And you certainly wouldn't want to have a guest witness a bug partying event in your pantry. They do not spread disease and, in truth, we probably consume more of their carcasses than we want to imagine.

(Ychh! - gross! - Pit-tooey!)

Where do they come from?

Pantry pests need oxygen and a moist environment to hatch and thrive. They may hitch a ride from the store as adults or the eggs may simply decide to hatch once they receive the right conditions.

How to get rid of them?

see the rest of the article here:

http://ourhouseandgarden.com/OurHandyman...

This happened to me a few years back.  I ended up tossing everything that was in a box or sack: corn meal, flour, cereal, rice etc.  Then made sure any spillage was cleaned out of the cupboards.  Haven't had the problem again.  I buy in smaller quantities so nothing has time to sit on the shelf long (and I store in air tight containers).

Answer 4

Eggs - I highly doubt that's possible

Butter or shortening - were either one sitting out where flies could get at them?

Yuck. :( I make cookies a lot and this will probably stick in my head for awhile when I'm mixing everything up.

Answer 5

Probably a meal worm or bug from the flour. It is harmless and a good source of protein ;-))

You didn't have to throw everything away. That is a terrible waste. People eat plenty of meal worms in restaurant food and never even know about it. It is one of the things that can be overlooked during cooking and not cause any loss of flavor in the finished product.

Gross huh?

Answer 6

mealy worm. It was in your dry ingredients probably your flour.  I know this sounds gross but I lived in a state and worked on an Indian reservation for a long time. We couldn't get fresh ingredients very easily.  mealy worms were common in dry goods.  We just sifted everything prior to use.  It was that or starve.  We couldn't throw everything away.