Pantry Pests and Holiday Baking: What to Check Before You Preheat the Oven
Holiday baking should come with sweet smells, family recipes, and maybe a little flour on the counter. Finding insects in your ingredients? That’s one tradition nobody wants to start.
Before you reach for that bag of flour tucked in the back of the cabinet, give your pantry a quick inspection. Ingredients that sit unused between baking sessions can provide an opportunity for pantry pests to go unnoticed.
What Are Pantry Pests?
Pantry pests are insects that infest stored foods. Common examples include Indian meal moths, flour beetles, and grain beetles. They can arrive in food packages and spread to other susceptible products, so finding them does not automatically mean your kitchen is dirty.
Check More Than the Flour
Before you start measuring, inspect ingredients such as:
Flour, cornmeal, and baking mixes
Oats, rice, cereal, and other grains
Walnuts, pecans, and other nuts
Raisins and other dried fruits
Chocolate, cocoa, and spices
Pantry pests can also infest dry pet food and birdseed, so check those supplies if you’re trying to locate a source.
What Should You Look For?
Check ingredients and packaging for small beetles, worm-like larvae, silk webbing, or holes in bags and wrappers. Small moths flying around the kitchen can also signal a problem. Some moth larvae leave their food source and crawl onto walls or ceilings.
Don’t assume an unopened package is pest-free. Some pantry pests can enter through packaging seams or chew through certain materials.
Found Something? Pause the Baking
Discard infested food and inspect nearby dry goods. Removing one affected bag may not resolve the problem if other products are also infested.
Empty the affected cabinet and vacuum shelves, cracks, and corners thoroughly. Dispose of the vacuum contents promptly. Finding and removing the food source is essential; spraying the pantry will not eliminate insects protected inside food packages. Insecticides are not recommended for stored-food cupboards.
Give Your Ingredients a Better Home
Store inspected, pest-free ingredients in sturdy containers with tight-fitting lids. Clean containers before refilling them, use older ingredients first, and avoid buying more than you can reasonably use. Regularly removing spilled food from shelf corners helps eliminate places where pests can feed.
Keep Uninvited Guests Off the Holiday Menu
A quick pantry check belongs on your holiday baking checklist, right alongside taking inventory and finding Grandma’s recipe.
If you’re finding insects and aren’t sure what they are or where they’re coming from, American Pest Solutions can help identify the problem and recommend next steps. Homeowners throughout Western Massachusetts and Connecticut can count on The Good Guys for help with unexpected guests. Think you have pantry pests? Contact us today!