Possible Food Waste--Beware

Larvae on the rim of a storage jar, horizontal in the glass threads.
white stringy stuff  on each side of one larvae-- pupae vacated.
No wasted food occurred here, but possibility without protection.
Can you see how they traveled round the threads and the flat lid
finally formed an impenetrable barrier?
Never use a peanut butter jar with plastic lid and no additional rubber barrier!

In the ongoing fight against pantry moths I have been cleaning as I could for months. It is slow, but I have found nothing in much of my food. On the contrary, I find the moths or larvae or pupa  in other places besides inside  foodstuffs. However, spilled food can be a lure. We may not be able to see the powdered milk on the rim of the jar, but the moths can detect food.

By the way, I put a plastic glass into the jar in order that the larvae show up better in the picture. The powdery stuff is powdered milk inside.

There was half a cup or less powdered milk in this half gallon Ball canning jar with a previously used lid. I use jars to protect all sorts of foods. I had not opened this jar in ages, so I decided to use the rest of the powdered milk for the hens' food in the morning and put pasta in the clean jar. I knew that any crevice, even under the labels on jars could be the place an adult moth would lay eggs. Still, I was surprised.

 

After I dumped the milk in a bowl, I examined the bit of powdered milk for larvae or pupa. None were in the milk. I took the jar, inverted it and put it under a fast stream of water in the sink. The larvae was stuck to the jar rim. As the water warmed, the larvae wiggled. Finally the larvae was washed away. It was a disgusting but enjoyable chore.

 

The Pantry Pest traps only target the males. A study said only one in eight males (think this was figure) who came near the trap, entered. That's discouraging.

 

Slowly, I am ridding myself of these horrors. Between the vacuum cleaner sucking them from the air and my electrified Bug Zapper, I am winning, but slowly. I am not capable of a whole kitchen cleaning right now or in the last year or so. I am sure I kill them in one place only to have them hatch someplace else and move to the cleaned place....sigh. Charlie is coming next week,; he will come and take away some foodstuffs and items from decluttering. Plus, he is going to repair things in the house. Everyone cross your fingers he comes. 

If you visit anyone with pantry moths, be very careful. I brought these home after a ten-day stay with someone who was storing bags of beans and rice in galvanized garbage cans in the kitchen. I opened the cans after seeing dozens of moths in the kitchen and far in the other rooms in the house. Hundreds flew out. ACK! My purse and luggage brought them to my home, despite my attempts and valiant efforts to shake thing out and launder them once I was home.

From now on, I will examine each canning jar used for dry storage, taking the lid off and examining the lid and ring, plus the glass threads. I really don't want to provide safe harbor for this pest.

 

Your turn

Have you fought pantry moths of any kind? Other than empty every cabinet and peel off the labels on cans, what methods did you use to get rid of these? Was emptying the cabinets your only recourse?