Storing Grains
All uncooked grains have an intrinsic problem that appears over time. There are insect eggs that are in the product which eventually hatch in the package. This is not from carelessness on the part of the companies that pack the food. It is just a fact of life.
It is true of all uncooked grain products: cereal, rice, all pasta including spaghetti, oatmeal, flour… you name it. Over time there will be tiny insects in the unopened, carefully stored package. It is not your fault. It is not anyone’s fault. We just have to deal with it.
Some products you will have to throw away, because the insects are too much part of the product. Some products are salvageable. Rice can get tiny insects from eggs that ride along with the rice inside the package. If you really need to use the rice because there is not enough other food, all you have to do is rinse the uncooked rice before cooking, and it will cook up just fine.
Some kinds of pasta are the same way. Some are not. Flour that you use for cooking can be sifted and used.
Much depends on the way you feel about eating food that has had insects on it, but has been carefully cooked so that there are no disease organisms present when you eat it. Some people will simply not eat it… until they are hungry enough. Some with an enlightened viewpoint realize that insects touch all food when it is growing, so as long as the food itself is still good, and is cooked long enough to kill harmful bacteria and the like, it is not much different from eating any food at any time. My own viewpoint is that it’s as clean as most fast food. But that’s just me.
Food packaged for very long storage will not have this problem for a very long time, if ever, because it sometimes is put through processes which practically eliminate the chance of it happening. But it is an issue for all grocery store food. Of course the basic remedy is simply to check expiration dates regularly, which should take care of this area of concern before it happens.
March 25th, 2009 at 1:58 pm
I have heard that if you freeze your food for 24+hours prior to storing that it eliminates the insect eggs. Not sure if this is true. Any insight would be great.
March 25th, 2009 at 6:26 pm
Short story: not true. It kills insects well enough, but not their eggs. In fact, for some insect eggs, freezing actually facilitates hatching. Go figure.
Fumigants can work, and fortunately, one good fumigant is simple Dry Ice. But frankly, I’ve never tried it. I see issues with the moisture that is formed by the very low temperature of Dry Ice. And it just plain seems too difficult. But I believe that if the directions are followed to the letter, it would probably work.
The directions, along with a whole lot of very good information on food storage, can be found at the Utah State University Cooperative Extension website:
http://extension.usu.edu/foodstorage/htm/wheat
Also see
http://extension.usu.edu/foodstorage/htm/insect-treatments.