How to stop pantry moths

​Pantry moths tend to appear in our flour and grains in the warmer months. To stop them taking over your pantry in the Summer, it’s best to prepare early. We gathered together some helpful tips to reduce your chance of a pantry moth infestation in the Summer.

1. Keep the pantry clean

​It might seem obvious or downright silly, but it can be easy for half-used boxes of cooking stuffs to get pushed to the back of the pantry, forgotten, or tipped over and create a mess. One way to help prevent this is to clean up spills when they happen or when they’re seen. The other way is to do a regular ‘Spring Clean’ of your pantry. Spring cleans are also a great way to take stock of what you have, need, or might have gone out of date. 

2. Pack it up

Pantry moths generally get into your pantry in their egg state, hidden in the creases and folds of boxes and packets. That makes prevention better than the cure. So another great way to prevent a pantry moth infestation is to take food items out of their packaging and place them in a container with a tight fitting lid.
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There are added benefits from packing your food in containers:
- it can deter other pests such as weevils, cockroaches, and rodents
- it can help keep food fresh by reducing oxidization
- you can see when you’re running low on a product with a glance and that saves money, and
- it can be easier to store bulk bought food items which can be cheaper.

3. Put it on ice

​If you are worried about a pack of food having pantry moth eggs on it, pop it in a plastic bag and into the freezer.
Putting the package in the freezer for a few weeks kills the eggs and larvae. When their time is up, simply pull the pack out of the freezer and put the contents in a tightly secured container. 

What to do when you realise you have pantry moths?

the food you see effected by the moths. That could be seeing the moths in the food, little holes in packets from larvae, or even larvae in the food itself. Any of these things are red pantry moth flags and means that you need to throw that food away, clear and clean the cupboard, possibly put other grains, flours and spices in the freezer for a few weeks, but definitely need to move as much of the dry foods to tightly sealed containers.
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These are also good times for you to contact Michael and the MD Pest Control team to come in and do a general spray for other kitchen pests such as silverfish, cockroaches, and ants and to bait for rodents. All of these things will help to keep your kitchen and pantry clear of common household pests.