Can You Get Sick From Eating Weevils
You may get sick if you eat weevils. Usually, weevils are not eaten raw because they are very hard to digest. Eating weevils may cause nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, fever, dizziness, and headache. Weevils can also spoil and contaminate stored food products.
While just thinking about eating a weevil (and its eggs or larvae) may make you sick, no, eating weevils does not make you physically ill. These weevils have no actual wings, and can eat foods stored in containers or anything else. Weevils in any stage of life, whether at larval or full insects, are harmless and a person cannot be sick if they accidentally eat weevils.
Weevils and insects multiply rapidly, so if left unnoticed, they can multiply in enormous numbers and contaminate your food. Sometimes bugs and weevils are overlooked, so chances are that you will have accidentally eaten an egg, larva, or this disgusting organism at some point during your life. Weevils are pretty tiny insects, so it is easy to overlook infestations in your food storage areas.
Even if there are no weevils or insects visible on contaminated food packages, that does not mean that food is entirely free of these pests. Before you buy foods on which weevils and bugs typically feed, inspect the product first. If you want to ensure your food is not in danger from weevils and bugs, keeping your space clean and clutter-free should be your first step.
| Ways to Kill Weevils | Explanation |
| Heat the Product | At least 15 minutes at 140 degrees F |
| Or freezing the Food | For three days |
Preventing weevil infestations requires regularly inspecting every purchased item that enters your home, as well as periodically checking grain products that are stored in cabinets or your pantry. Weevils typically enter your home via purchased containers of whole-grain cereal products infested in food-processing and packing facilities. Fortunately, weevils generally infest foods that need to be cooked anyway, like dried beans or whole grains.
Interestingly, weevils are found in foods that cannot be consumed raw, requiring cooking before eating. If food has lots (and lots and lots) of weevils in it, then personally, I would tend to throw out food. At the same time, you might not want to eat or be served food that has dead weevils.
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Since weevils live and breed in foods, contaminating the food with an insecticide straight is not healthy. Weevils, both larval and adult stages, are not harmful to humans or animals, and, in fact, the weevils present in your food will tell you whether or not the grains have pesticide residues. If you are eating flour that has weevils, it is not likely that you will get harmed, so if you used the infected product before, do not worry too much.
These flour weevils also play their part in making mold, but when they die off, they give off a foul smell that may damage your food items as well. Weevils are tiny insects or pests that are found in wheat grains, flour, rice, nuts, and other dried foods. Wheat weevils are found in many different types of grains, such as maize, oats, barley, rye, millet, sorghum, and wheat.
Food products that contain uncooked wheat, oats, rye, barley, rice, and corn are the most susceptible to weevils. According to all the experts above, weevils often find their way into your house through food itself, with some imported from other countries, such as rice, sunflower seeds, and feed corn. Unlike other house insects, like mosquitoes, which can cause Dengue Fever, malaria, Yellow Fever, or beetles, which can cause food poisoning, asthma, cholera, or rats, which can cause Rat-Bite Fever, weevils are not toxic and do not cause any adverse effects when eaten.
If you see spider-web-like threads on your starchy pantry items such as rice, flour, oats or sugar, or bits of dried powder on shelves and holes in your food packages, you may have a pest infestation, like moths or weevils. Typically, people first notice infestations when they see moths flying around their pantry or black weevils on stored foods.
If you see bugs appearing in any of your sealed containers, there are probably microscopic weevil eggs in the food. If your house is cleaned, and you discover weevils and bugs in your flour or rice, chances are that were already present when you brought them home. Nothing is more frustrating than opening up a bag of flour, rice, or any grains, only to discover that the bag contains bugs and weevils.
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Eating flour contaminated with weevils is definitely not anybodys idea of a good time, but rest assured, it is not going to kill you. In fact, using weevil-infested flour to cook with or bake with means it is going to heat up to the point that it is safe to eat again, since the heat kills weevil eggs, larvae, and adults alike (via Grove). If you do find food infested, or if you suspect that it might be, and want to try killing weevils rather than throwing out food, you can generally kill adult weevils, along with eggs, larvae, and pupae, by heating the product at least 15 minutes at 140 degrees F, or freezing the food for three days at or below freezing.
P experts are unanimous about using the freezing method–wrapping the food in heavy-duty plastic bags and sticking it in a freezer for several days–anytime you take a potentially high-risk weevil source, like rice or bird seed. Blackburn says that freezing your food in the freezer for 48 hours also will kill any eggs, larvae, or adults, and you can pick some of the moths off, if desired, or simply eat them. If you do not want to discard any of your other opened packages, you have a choice of freezing none of your weevils or bugs for three or four days.
Because weevils can chew through cardboard boxes or bags, you will want to store your pantry foods in sturdy plastic containers or cans that are sealed. You cannot become ill by accidentally eating a weevil, but you do want to ensure your pantry items are stored in airtight containers. If you happen to accidentally eat some weevils with this mornings breakfast, do not worry: You will not get sick.
What that means is the weevils you throw out can turn into weevils on your neighbors, if you are not careful, and, say, the coons knocked over your trash. Place garlic cloves and dried bay leaves on freshly cleaned countertops to keep the weevils away. Your food-storage areas may also be hounded by an odd-looking bug, one with little known benefits: the weevil.
How long does it take to kill weevils?
Finding and getting rid of the infected whole grain is necessary for control. The weevils can be “saved” by using heat or cold to control them in small amounts of grain. All stages of weevils in the grain can be eliminated by heating it to 140 degrees F for 15 minutes or freezing it at 0 F for three days.
Can rice weevil bite humans?
Weevils found in grains and rice are not harmful to people, homes, furniture, clothing, or animals. They are not contagious and neither can they bite or sting. They won’t eat anything from the house’s framework to furniture. They cause damage to the seeds they infest as well as irritation from being in the incorrect spot.
How do you get rid of weevils naturally?
Weevils are naturally repelled by the scent of bay leaves and cloves. For protection against these pests, put a few bay leaves in your dried food containers, and scatter a few garlic cloves throughout your kitchen and pantry to stop them from settling there. Also known to kill bothersome pantry weevils is white vinegar.