334. Insects

There is more or less loss of food materials through the depredations of insects. Housewives have often found an insect infestation of foods a troublesome matter to deal with. Several species of weevils and beetles infest dry foods, especially the cereal preparations like flour, meal, and breakfast foods. " An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure," so the housekeeper should be careful not to accept from the grocer any food stuff containing insect life. In order to exercise great care in this matter, the presence of larva and beetles may be discovered by sifting flour or meal through a sieve with very fine meshes.

When an insect infestation of the pantry is discovered, then methods of getting rid of it must be considered. If the amount of infested material is small, then its destruction or the use of it as food for animals is the safest and most satisfactory course to pursue. If a barrel of flour or other large bulk of ground cereal is found to contain insect life, then the remedy is likely to depend somewhat upon the degree of fastidiousness of the family.

Flour or meal cannot with certainty be freed from insect life by the use of a sieve, as the eggs and young larva slip through the finest meshes. Heat and disinfection are the only sure means of killing the insects. Heating the infested material in an oven for a time at the temperature of 125° to 150° F. is fatal to eggs, larva, and perfect insects. Disinfection of a barrel of flour or other large quantity of prepared cereal may be accomplished by the use of a liquid chemical known as bi-sulfide of carbon. This liquid is volatile at ordinary temperatures, and, as a gas, it will fill any space, provided a sufficient quantity i3 used.

With a barrel of flour a cup full of bi-sulfide may be placed on top of the flour in a shallow dish, and the barrel tightly covered, to remain so for a day or more. Sometimes it is necessary to repeat the operation. An entire room may be freed from insects by placing in it in shallow dishes bi-sulfide at the rate of 1 pound to 1000 cubic feet of space, keeping the room tightly closed. The gas is inflammable and should not be exposed to a light or other means of ignition. Its odor is very disagreeable, but it all passes away from food without harming it, and a slight inhalation of the gas does no harm.

It is probable that many persons would object to eating food in which dead insects are retained, therefore the infestation of a large supply of food materials is a somewhat serious matter, and great care should be taken to prevent it.