# Buggies in my popcorn



## Brisen (Apr 5, 2004)

I was adding an old jar of popcorn kernels to a new one, and noticed that there were little critters wriggling around in the old popcorn. I tossed everything in the freezer. Will this get rid of the buggies? It is a good idea to just freeze all grains I bring into my home as a precaution? I hadn't heard of bugs in popcorn before.


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## Still_Snarky (Dec 23, 2004)

They're probably grain beetles and we used to get them in our pasta, cereal, and other dry foods, especially things in cardboard boxes... I'd check the other containers in the area where you found them and be sure to wipe away anything that's been spilled! If you do find them in anything, I'd completely throw out whatever they were in. BTW, they can get into unopened packages too...they eat through paper and plastic.

We store what's convenient in the fridge (I'm sure the freezer would be fine) and everything else in Tupperware or some other air-tight storage.

HTH!


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## apcanadianmamma (Sep 30, 2004)

eek. That is seriously my biggest fear and I was just talking to DH about it today. I just bought a great big bag of hard whole wheat flour from our HFS (which has had freshness "issues" in the past) I was actually afraid to open the bag because I was scared there would be bugs in it (there wasn't but I'm sure my time will come) I haven't personally had this happen at my house (yet) but my mother did when I was a teenager and living at home - she ended up throughing out everything in the pantry that wasn't a tin...that may have been overkill but we have bug phobias in our family (what you don't know won't hurt you - I just don't want to SEE them







)

Sorry that happened to you.


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## kaydee (Aug 13, 2004)

Ugh. We have managed to get bugs in almost ALL of our sealed up foods at one point or another. Some even managed to get into unopened still-vacuum-sealed jars of pasta sauce and salsa!







. Now we keep everything in the fridge.


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## Brisen (Apr 5, 2004)

As soon as I realized what they were, I put the two containers in the freezer. These kernels came from the bulk store, and were transfered to a glass container at home. If I've frozen the kernels, will that kill the bugs? Can I still use it? It was a lot of popcorn. I haven't found them in anything else before. I buy bulk wheat, but right now I'm storing it in the deep freeze anyway. I was so looking forward to popcorn....


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## ladywolf (Aug 20, 2004)

FYI, the federal goverment allows so many insects per part per million. So, if the porportion of insect included in the product you buy is an egg, you have real bugs.
It does not matter if you buy something sealed or bulk.


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