When pests make their way into your home, it can make you uncomfortable, but when they get into your food, it could pose health hazards for you and your family. Pantry pests can contaminate food and cost you more money at the grocery store.
Types of Foods Pests Love
If you have ever seen pests in your food, you know they prefer certain types of foods over others. These are foods that are high in sugar, grain, and fat. Common foods pantry pests target include:
- Flour
- Cereal
- Crackers
- Rice
Types of Pantry Pests
Pantry pests come in all shapes and sizes. Many different types of pests can get into your food. Being able to identify them will help you determine the best way to fix the problem. 
Ants
The most common pest that gets into our kitchens and pantries are ants. Ants range in size, but the ones you’ll find in your pantry are usually tiny. You can find them marching across your counter and cabinets. When they find the pantry’s tasty contents, they will leave a scent trail for other ants in the colony to follow. Soon you’ll have a river of ants leading right into your cereal box. Luckily, you can track where they are coming from and find their entry point. When the entry point has been discovered, seal the area and spray it with an insect killer or place ant bait.
Moths
When it comes to cereals and other stored grains, the Indian meal moth is one of the most common pantry bugs. These bugs have an appetite for grains, nuts, dried fruits, cereals, and many other processed foods. Indian meals can be identified by their reddish-brown forewings and grey body.
Even if you close your cereal boxes and grain packages correctly, the Indian meal moth can chew right through it. It is recommended to use airtight plastic containers to store your cereals and grains.
Weevils
Grain weevils, wheat weevils, bean weevils, or granary weevils love to feed on beans, seeds, and whole grains, but stay away from processed food. Weevils are small reddish-brown to dark brown beetles with elongated snouts and less than 3/16 inch long. Like pantry moths, they can chew through plastic and paper packages if they are hungry enough. If your food products have been contaminated with weevils or weevil larvae, dispose of it and start storing your products in plastic containers. 
Beetles
Flour beetles are the most common type of beetles you’ll find in the kitchen. They are super small and usually measure five millimeters in length. They are reddish-brown and will gather in large numbers in cereal, flour, and even pet food. They can cause flour to discolor and smell bad as they eat and grow.
Again, you will have to get rid of all contaminated foods to get rid of the beetles completely. Keeping your flour, cereal, and dry pet foods in sealed containers will deter beetles from making your pantry their breeding grounds. Keeping your pantry clean and periodically checking for pests is a must when working to prevent pantry bugs.
To prevent pantry pests from ruining your food, make sure to clean your kitchen regularly, don’t leave dirty dishes in the sink, and put away all food after use. Put all grains, cereals, flour, and sugar in plastic, air-tight containers so pests cannot smell them.
Call The Pest Control Experts at Cramer
If pantry pests have infested your panty, call the professionals at Cramer Pest Control. We have years of experience dealing with pests of all shapes and sizes. If you have an active infestation or are looking to protect yourself from the worst pests, then ask about our residential pest control program.
Is your commercial business infested with pests? With our Commercial Pest Control program, we can save your small business from being overrun with pests.
Don’t wait for the problem to get out of control, call us now at (704) 763-0204 or (803) 802-7540 to get started. You can also contact us here for more information. Don’t forget to follow us on Facebook for the latest deals and check our blog for monthly pest control tips and tricks.