Food Moths
Moths in your kitchen cupboard: what to do now?
Small moths in the kitchen cupboard or webbing in a bag of flour almost always mean pantry moths. The moths themselves eat nothing; their larvae are in your food. Find the infested packet, clear out the cupboard properly in one go, keep dry food in sealed containers from now on and hang a pheromone trap to see whether they stay away. This is how to do it in one afternoon.
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How do I get rid of moths in my kitchen?
You get rid of moths in your kitchen by emptying the food cupboard in one go, throwing away everything with webbing or larvae in it and cleaning the cupboard:
- Empty the cupboard completely, including the sealed packets at the back.
- Shake every packet and look for moths, webbing or clumps.
- Throw away infested food, tied up well and straight into the outside bin.
- Freeze anything you are unsure about before you put it back.
- Vacuum the cupboard, including the joints, corners and the holes for the shelf pins, and wipe the shelves.
- Put everything back in jars or tins that close tightly, with the oldest food at the front.
- Hang a pheromone trap in the cupboard to see whether any moths are still flying about.
Which foods should you check?
Check everything that is dry and edible: flour, rice, pasta, oats and muesli, nuts and seeds, dried fruit, cocoa, chocolate and biscuits, herbs and spices, and pet food and bird seed too. Do not forget the packets that have stood sealed at the back for a long time: the Natural History Museum notes that the larvae can bite through paper, cellophane and thin plastic.
What should you throw away, and what can you keep?
Throw away everything with webbing, clumps, larvae or moths in it; infested food is not worth keeping. If you are unsure about a sealed packet, freeze it: according to the Dutch pest knowledge centre KAD, 5 days at minus 12 °C kills eggs and larvae, as long as the cold reaches the middle of the packet. A household freezer is colder than that, but leave a large packet in a little longer.
How do you clean the kitchen cupboard?
Vacuum the empty cupboard thoroughly, especially the corners, joints and the holes for the shelf pins: that is where the larvae pupate. Then wipe the shelves with warm soapy water and let the cupboard dry well before you put the food back. An insect spray is not needed, and it does not belong near food; mothballs and moth paper do not belong in the kitchen either.
How do you know the moths are gone?
You know the moths are gone when you have seen no moths for weeks and a pheromone trap in the cupboard catches nothing. Allow a few weeks: pupae hidden in a crack still hatch after cleaning. The odd moth at the start is not a new infestation. If the trap is still catching moths after a month, there is still an infested packet somewhere.
How do you stop moths coming back?
Keep dry food and pet food in jars or tins that close tightly, check new food before you put it away and do not keep food for too long. A cool cupboard helps: according to the KAD, larval development almost stops below 13 to 15 °C. Leave a trap in the cupboard, so you spot new moths in time.
Can you starve out pantry moths?
Only partly. Once all infested food has gone and everything else is sealed, the larvae have nothing left to eat, but larvae and pupae hidden in cracks still hatch, and larvae can survive a long time without developing. That is why vacuuming the cracks and following up with a trap matter as much as clearing out the food.
Want to know more? How to recognise pantry moths, where they come from and how their life cycle works is in our guide to pantry moths. You find the trap under pantry moth traps. Not sure which moth it is? Read which moth do I have?
Sources
- Natural History Museum, London: Indian meal moth (Plodia interpunctella) identification guide.
- Kennis- en Adviescentrum Dierplagen (KAD, Dutch knowledge centre for animal pests), knowledge base: Indian meal moth and stored product moths.
