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I live in an apartment here in Mexico. I like to buy brown rice, white rice and pasta at the supermarket. Well it took me a while to realize that a lot of the brown rice and white rice i bought... i had noticed there were these tiny ants inside.
Normally i would buy a lot of these bags and then just put them on the cabinet. I had done this when i first came to mexico in my previous apartment and never had this issue. It wasn't until i recently looked very closely when i poured rice into my rice cooker and when i poured it into a plastic jar that i put the rest of the small bag of rice in... i had noticed there were lots of these ants inside.
First off, is it most likely these ants were already inside the bag at the supermarket? The thing is the last few times, i paid close attention and inspected every bag before i bought it. Yet when i got home, i noticed few days later when i cooked the rice, there seem to be always a couple of these ants inside. Im positive that many times i have eaten rice cooked from the rice cooker and these ants were in it and i never realized it. As silly as it sounds, if i see a black spot in the rice... i wouldn't have noticed it. I had read ants can easily go inside rice bags.. is it true?
What is the best solution to this? I heard of spraying lemon juice around the area. I heard of putting the rice immediately in a jar that put it in the freezer. Which is the best option here? I normally buy a lot of these in stock so i won't have to go to supermarket just for rice but now i only buy 2-3 of these small bags max. Yet even when i do this, still these ants are there. I'm sort of positive they could be in my apt because i had poured rice into a jar immediately when i got it from supermarket. Then later on poured it to cook, there were none i noticed. yet i did this again with another bag and this time i didn't close my jar tight enough... so the ants could have went inside is my guess.
What is the best option here? Also im wondering could it be possible eating these ants could cause health/skin issues? I ask this is because the last few months, i had grown very small dark birthmarks near my eye and under my eye. I had thought this could be the possible reason. The other was stress but i been always a stressful person.
The other thing is it always safe to eat the rice even after u find out there are these ants inside? I had thrown a lot of these bags away due to it. My issue is i dont want to keep buying bags of rice then have to throw it out each time since i have to go to supermarket each time. And before someone say go to another supermarket, here in mexico in this city, theres only a few big supermarkets to get rice.
They're probably weevils. They may be already in the bags, or in your pantry - either live ones or eggs. This article says you can freeze the bags for a week to kill any live weevils or eggs - or just keep your stuff in the freezer. Another option is to spread your rice on a cookie sheet and bake at a low temperature to kill anything, then store them in a tight container.
Eating them probably won't hurt you. Lots of people around the world eat bugs - protein! To us, it's just creepy but they're probably even good for you LOL.
Best way to deal with ants is to do the peanut butter and honey test to determine the kind of bait you need. If you want fast and easy method then you get a bait, see the link, and just put it in the ants path, they like the rice so leave some out while you are at work to attract then then when you get home put the bait down next to them/in their way. Anytime a tenant calls and complains about ants this is exactly what I tell them and I almost never get another call about it.
I like to add that i recently just saw some ants on some utensils of mine in a cabinet. So based on that, that means these ants are from my apartment? Thus those ants somehow found a way into the ricebags? I had heard there were certain holes in a rice bag that isn't really visible to a regular person. But could ants get into rice bags? Because im thinking that is the only way that is possible based on this situation
The ants are probably getting inside the bags in your house. The jar is a good idea. I have a problem with ants sometimes in my house and I always keep my bags of rice inside a big jar.
You can put the rice in a mesh strainer and shake it to get the ants out, or rinse it several times to drown the ants and then they'll float, making it easier to remove them.
I don't think eating a few ants would have hurt you. You've probably eaten more bugs than that without ever realizing it.
When I buy rice that comes from Mexico, the package always says to rinse the rice before cooking. Rice that was grown in the US doesn't say that on the package.
As far as the dark spots by your eye, if you live somewhere with a high elevation (like Mexico City), you get more sun exposure than you would somewhere lower. So you probably should have your doctor look at those dark spots just to make sure they're nothing serious.
As soon as I buy a bag of rice, I take it home, open it, inspect the rice (return it to the store if I find anything in it) and pour it into an airtight container. Problem solved.
Here, I've had issues with weevils (a tiny beetle-type creature) that love to invade rice and peas or beans. From what I read, they are often introduced to the plant while in the field, and unknowingly caught along with the grain, where they feed and multiply. The best advice that was given to me was to immediately freeze the food when getting home, which would kill any living thing in it, and then it should be safe to store in a sealed container in the cabinet. I haven't had a problem with bugs since.
Ants would not be attracted to rice. If the weevils are developing in your home, they are probably coming from eggs in the rice that you buy, unless they take a long time to show up. In that case they are coming from beetles (weevils) in your home.
Do an experiment. Next time you buy rice put half in a clean jar that you keep closed all the time on the counter, and put half in the freezer. Take the freezer batch out after a week and put it into a different jar. See which one develops weevils. If neither do it means your rice was clean when you bought it. If only the first batch gets weevils you will need to do the freezer trick on all of your rice from now on.
Yeah, I thought there were a lot of micro-buggies & eggs on the raw food. Therefore, adding some of the chemicals to cleanse them was an okay thing. That was my way of dieting. How did you eat?
Last edited by Beretta; 03-02-2016 at 04:40 PM..
Reason: copyright violation
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