The Smartest Way to Keep Pantry Moths Out of Your Kitchen

It’s never nice to find an insect or any other type of pest hanging around your home, but it’s especially disgusting to find one in your food. Running into ants marching in a line across the kitchen floor is one thing; Opening the flour container and finding moths, tiny caterpillars and a web of cobwebs is a real kitchen nightmare.

If you found yourself in this last situation, you probably had (or currently have) pantry moths. Here’s how to stop them from taking over your kitchen.

What is a pantry moth?

Pantry moths are not a sign of a dirty home. In most cases, they come in the form of eggs that have been laid in your products at the food packaging plant. Depending on when you open the package, you may find adult moths, larvae (looks like tiny caterpillars), eggs, cobwebs (looks like silk threads), feces balls, shed skins, dead moths, and eggshells.

Generally speaking, pantry moth gravitates toward dry foods and is most commonly found in packages of flour, sugar, grains, dried beans, seeds, nuts, cereal, baking chocolate, cake mixes, rice, nuts, dried fruits, dry pet food. bird food, teas, herbs, spices and potpourri mixes.

In addition, once they enter your pantry or cupboard, pantry moths can travel from food packaging to other areas, including but not limited to: door hinges, the back of door handles, any nooks and crannies, corners of wire baskets, bottom part of the shelves and non-food items stored there.

How to prevent pantry moths from infesting your kitchen

As you probably already figured out, pantry moths are not what you need in your kitchen. Here are some strategies to avoid infection :

• Carefully inspect each of the items mentioned above as soon as you bring them home.
• Monitor the ceilings and walls of pantries or other food storage areas, especially around corners, for moths, webs and/or larvae that may have entered.
• Store dry foods in glass or metal containers: pantry moth larvae can gnaw through paper and plastic.
• Clean up any wet or dry spills in the pantry immediately (such as sugar and flour), as the larvae require only a small amount of food to survive.
• Store dry pet food, including bird food, in metal containers away from places where human food is stored (such as a garage or basement).

Want to know more? The Old Farmer’s Almanac and Oregon State University have a lot more information on how to deal with these unwanted guests, including how to get rid of them.