Warning: Dry foods contamination from Edeka

I just lost over half of my dry goods (including Almond Hershey Kisses from Canada!) to a worm infestation. I would normally chalk it up to bad luck but I believe I have found the cause. I just opened a brand new, sealed bag of Edeka brand currants (Korinthen to the lurking Germans) and found the remains of an egg casing and a living worm identical to the ones already present in my food. A close inspection of the bag revealed no holes or cracks from where the worm/moth could have entered, which means it was introduced at the factory. Given the pathetic standards of german groceries it should come as no surprise, but I would like to urge everyone to closely examine all dried goods when they are first opened to prevent the spread of vermin, especially when dealing with Edeka brand products.

Time to break out the boric acid and spray my pantry.

It's common to find this sort of thing in dried good such as raisins, currants, and especially nuts. When I lived in the US I bought a jar of nuts. I didn't open the jar for a while. After a few weeks, well before the good until date, I went for the nuts and there was exactly the same thing. The jar was full of what looked like spider webs but turned out to be some kind of moth larvae nest. I didn't eat nuts for a long time afterward. If you want to find out the truth you can go to the food and drug admin web site in the US and see just how many moth larvae per liter is considered acceptable for just about any given product. Warning, I woudn't search for the answers unless I were ready to accept the truth. You may eat anything, ever again. On the bright side, I hear moth larvae contain vast ammounts of protein.

RB

Yeah "Lebensmittelmotten" is what they are called in Germany and they are pretty common. Some people suggest you freeze your flour, spaghetti, rice, etc for a while after buying it, because that way it will kill off any eggs that may be hidden in there. Are you sure the contamination came from that Edeka package though? I mean it is possible but it seems strange to conclude from the fact that it was still sealed and they could not have entered (actually they can) that that was the origin, after all if there was no way to enter, how was there a way to get out of the package to contaminate your other food?
The only way to seal stuff away from moths is to put it in airtight boxes like tupperware. They can eat through paper and plastic wrapping.

Moth larvae are not dangerous for your health by the way, they are just disgusting. (I had the same problem in my first apartment here a couple of months ago, that is why I read up on it)

By the way, vinegar would do too, to spray your pantry, and use a hair dryer (no kidding) for 5 minutes on the cracks to make sure you get them all... the heat from a hair dryer will kill the eggs and larvae.

Oh yeah, and if this hasn't become obvious to you, this is a problem that is common in all countries, not just Germany. Apparently you have been lucky so far not to have encountered it, but it has nothing to do with standards of German groceries (which, regarding hygiene are not really any lower than anywhere else in the EU or US no matter how cheap they are or how low you think their quality is).

You found a larve in your currants, delivered free of charge from Edeka because as you say the bag was sealed and undamaged. So how did your other stuff get contaminated? If that one larve couldn't get into the bag (bag was sealed) then logically enough nothing could get out of the bag either to contaminate the other stuff (bag was sealed). Or am I missing out on something?

Years ago, I used to eat cereal every morning. Then one morning, eating the last few bites of the last bowl of a giant box, I absentmindenly looked down as I dipped my spoon into the last bits there in the remaining milk at the bottom of the bowl. Into the milk which was wiggling and squirming, though the bowl was perfectly still.

After I finished barfing, I had to throw pretty much everything away; it had taken over my entire kitchen. I use tupperware now to at least seal off whatever decides to nest in something.

I know someone who´ll freak when see reads this, she has a terrible phobia about this sort of thing.

I have had terrible problems with these moths. I know exactly where they came from - the rice I bought in a shop in Starnberg. The shop is not bothered, saying they won't hurt you. Ended up throwing away loads of stuff. Now everything I buy goes into sealed containers. And I don't buy rice there anymore.

Nowhere in my post did I imply that the bag of unopened currants was the source of the contamination. In addition to my existing infestation I found the same organism in an unopened package bought recently, which is how I conclude that I got the infestation from a previously bought package of whatever.

Freezing my dry goods is not an option (at least, until it's cold enough to leave them on my balcony) as my bag of rice is about as large as my entire refrigerator.

yeah you did.

Sounds a lot to me like you said that was the source!

By the way, you are likely to find moths everywhere in your food (moths like carbs, so they like pasta, potatoes, rice, dried fruit, nuts, and also spices) now that your kitchen has been contaminated, and the suggested procedure is to throw out everything (yes, everything!) that has been opened or not been sealed air tight (in containers, not plastic wrapping), and then clean your kitchen. If you have something that does not seem infested (no webbings, no visible larvae) and you don't want to throw it out, maybe stick it in an airtight container and see if anything starts crawling in there after a while.

Here is a link in English on what to do: http://www.ehow.com/how_18818_rid-home-pantry.html

By the way, you can also buy pheromone traps (at dm for example but any drugstore should have them) to keep adult moths from laying eggs in your cupboards and pantries. I think in my old apartment here the moths actually did not come through food from the store but through opened windows and then laid their eggs in the spices.

"Already present".

Or did you both miss that the first, and second, time.

What are you trying to say?

There are so many different kind of bugs that can get in your cupboard and foodstuff. I remember having a problem long time ago with bugs in my flour and cereal. The only thing that get rid of them was moving to another flat. Here's an interesting link about so many different kinds of bugs that can infest your cupboards.

http://www.ag.ndsu.edu/pubs/yf/home/e300w.htm

So let me summarise what you wrote:

• You had a worm infestation
• You opened a brand-new packet of currants
• This food was also infected
• Therefore the currants are the source of the infestation
• Uh, even though you had the infestation before you purchased the currants.

Something just seems out of sync with that scenario that's "bugging" you .

BTW, Mariposa, thanks for the link. Infested food has been thrown away, the cupboard has been thoroughly cleaned, and a saturated boric acid solution has been sprayed into the corners and peg holes where it appears they have been nesting. Fortunately I keep my spices stored separately and so far they have remained untouched.

Yeah, you might want to consider putting tape over the peg holes... that way should they return (and they may), they won't nest in there again.

Edit: Regarding spices, I have read they prefer spicy spices over mild ones, such as pepper and chili etc. And that such spices should be kept in the fridge for this reason... Hope you get rid of the moths soon, they can be a pain in the butt. My parents had them last year sometime and it took them a long time to get rid of them.

"It was introduced at the factory" - very unlikely.
How long had you kept the currants?
One of the reasons for "best before" dates is to get stuff eaten before
eggs turn into larvae.
If you want absolutely "clean" currants then they need to irradiated, kept
in Sulphur Dioxide gas and so on - you would not like the result.
One "secret" in the food industry is the "protective atmosphere" -
gas mixture to keep your food OK as long as it is in the original sealed package.
A brilliant success - but they cannot use the word "gas" (negative connotations).
Use your food before the "best before date", store flour , currants, etc in their original
containers or sealed containers. If you do not want heavily processed foods
then you will have to put up with odd harmless weevil...
(Not news to our Grandma's).