https://files.ozbargain.com.au/upload/175189/94229/a38a8479-…
Have been buying Biondi pasta from the Reject Shop for 50c. All of a sudden insects have hatched in all the bags I had (only 4) this bag is the worst but the others have a few. The pasta was bought within the last few months. I’ve never had this issue with pasta.
Sometimes being cheap just isn’t worth it. You can literally hear them crawling around. Lesson learned.
Well if ever there was an audience of 50c pasta purchasers I thought OzB would be it… I’ve never had rice weevils before, pretty yuck tbh.
As you said yourself
":The pasta was bought within the last few months"
Not the last few days
How do you know these pests weren't in your pantry?
Happens with flour as well.
It looks like a sealed bag to me
@badg3rz: they live in there i had pasta do that before too price does not matter flour dose it too.
It was definitely from the packet. I’m not denying that cross contamination can occur, but I’m almost certain in this case they originated in the pasta and now I’ll have to go through and clean to make sure they haven’t got into anything else.
Generally the ones in flour are pantry moths. I’ve had those in the past. What I think normally happens is one batch of flour or whatever is kept to long, the moths hatch then spread to other things.
@morse: ok in that case, cook em up, eat them, hopefully you get a medical reaction, go to hospital, make a doctors report, lawsuit payday?
How do you know these pests weren't in your pantry?
The pasta looks to be in a sealed bag without any visible perforations. That is how almost all pasta I buy are sold.
So, how would they get in from OP's pantry into a sealed bag?
It's not a bug, it's a feature - extra protein!
Username should be remorse. In all seriousness this is a PSA.
morse's offspring —> remorse
I had the remorse 2 years ago during early covid. Now, my house and kitchen are much much cleaner than the average Aussie home, and I routinely do my own pest control.
I bought a container of Creatine Powder from Coles which was well within BB/Expiry Date. I was doing heavy training at the time. The top of the lid was a bit dusty, but everything was sealed proper. After having a really bad taste in my drink (like heavy dishwashing detergent) I started to get angry. And a few times vomiting I realised something was wrong. I literally lost 1-2kgs of muscle (or water?) that few days from it.
I finally saw that the dust on the lid was ever so slightly wriggling. It was microscopic (0.3mm) infestation of Flour Mites. And by the time I noticed, in those few days they multiplied like crazy and were EVERYWHERE. On all the clean utensils, cups, plates, dishes. There wasn't any food crumbs to feed them, but they were everywhere just blindly migrating.
It took me THREE DAYS to get rid of them, which included chucking away $100 worth of nutrition stuffs, apply pesticides, cleaning all drawers/pantry/cupboard, sterilising everything, and again individually cleaning each utensil and cookware. Because even if they all died, their corpse would taint food: cause allergic reaction to me/guests, upset digestion immensely, and make food unpalatable. It's up there with Bed Bugs, that's how bad it is.
Bought and used a bunch of these Biondi pasta (spaghetti, spirals, etc.), never had any problems with them. Never had any with bugs or anything in them. Where did you keep the pasta?
In the kitchen cupboard. I’ve been using biondi with no probs too. Would have eaten some within the last week.
You could still serve it to people you don't like and call those bugs dark green capers…
What if you did…. say* to yourself…. asking for a friend.
no artificial flavors or additives.
Good source of protein!
I think OP's pack of pasta can no longer be "Vegan"…
Ah good ol weevils (or the beetle variant), tasty treat packed full of protein.
Looked it up… apparently rice weevils. I’ve only ever had the pantry moths in the past. These are much more gross to look at, I think hearing them crawling around in the packet erked me the most.
Perhaps you could wash the pasta before you cook them? :) I think that is one of the many reasons why traditionally Asians wash rice, to filter out the weevils. FWIW, it has been a while since I found a weevil in my rice, if I find that many weevils in my pasta bag, I would most likely toss it out.
Moths come from weevils / other larvae. And the moths are laying eggs in your pantry.
Seriously make your own.
You only need few ingredients.
I’d love to but I’m not big on time - pasta packet is just so easy. I might give it a go once my toddler is a bit bigger and he can join in.
Did the Nutrition Facts Label mention protein? Guess they weren't lying about the protein
What is the best before date?
Interestingly enough there isn’t one…
Then the goods I thought would not be legally able to be sold as there needs to be a BB or UB date on packaged food.
Yeah I thought that too… but I looked all over and couldn’t find one. There was a serial number but not a date.
Yeah, even honey and million year old salt have best before dates.
If the product has an expected shelf life of over 2 years, it doesn’t always need a date on it.
Check out some canned goods in your home or at the supermarket next time.
We had this question a lot when I worked in a supermarket. I couldn’t believe the answer either but it’s true.
Pasta does not tend to have a use by date.
This is from San Remo site:
why can’t i find a use by date?
As dry pasta has greater than 2 years shelf life we are not required to put a ‘best before’ date on the packaging.
Just checked the pantry and at least 3x different pasta brands all have best before dates on the packaging
Interesting. I just checked as well, mine has a 2024. Weird! I stand corrected
I've bought the pasta before and it was perfectly fine.
If there are weevils and you don’t see them it will also be perfectly fine.
ok? so you probably ate weevils. weird flex tbh.
Is it "lesson learned" or "lesson learnt"?
Mistake made…
Depends where you’re from… though I am Australian so I guess it should be learnt
I bought something from the reject shop and it had bugs in it….
Hmmmmmmm. shock
"… bought within the last few months…"
Where did the bugs come from?
I assume that you looked at the (clear) packages when you bought them. You've had them for a few months; did the bugs go to the pasta from elsewhere in your pantry?
I think they hatched in the bag. Couldn’t find any in anything else, only the Biondi pasta. I have some coles spaghetti too and it’s fine.
If the bag is sealed, just sit it out until they run out of oxygen.
https://faq-answers.net/do-weevils-need-oxygen
Nothing harmful, guess it's because you are in a humid and warm environment.
I used to play with those weevils when we had to wash rice, was fun to flick them around.
Yep, very much so. Gold Coast almost feels like Cairns this year. I have the aircon on quite a bit if we’re home but obviously not overnight or if we’re at work so I think it’s the perfect environment for critters to hatch and thrive.
Name checks out, probably deliberately bought infested rice as it was cheaper
I used to play with those weevils when we had to wash rice, was fun to flick them around.
Really?
If they get into a big bag of rice/dispenser they breed like mad and crawl all over the house… At least that was my experience from that one time we had them
On the plus side looks like the wheat was not sprayed with pesticides .Not that I want to eat the extra protein but just a comment.
Freeze first then store where you want
Ah… interesting, does that kill the eggs?
Yes it does. When I livid in a tropical country I put my rice in the freezer; the humidity and weather made them hatch really early!
This makes a lot of sense - super hot and humid here at the moment.
Just had a pack of the Biondi spirals pasta, was perfectly fine. Cooks relatively fast too.
Yeah I actually thought it was really good and cheap until now. Maybe I can only buy it in winter when the eggs don’t hatch.
pre seasoned with black pepper?
.
At San Remo, they get casuals to restack pallets of pasta that mice have eaten, to save packets that have no holes to sell…
Waste not want not
Not limited to cheap Reject Shop pasta. Bought packets of Barilla from Coles - the shrink wrapped bulk packs. Had to toss one lot as were full of weevils.
First time I'd seen them since childhood.
Late last year I had a pack of San Remo small shells that had weevils in it. Never seen them before, so of course I googled it. They are harmless and we all have probably eaten them with out knowing at one stage or another.
This is a good article on them:
https://www.bhg.com.au/how-to-make-your-kitchen-free-of-weev…
My guess would be that we all regularly eat food infested not only with weevils but all manner of insects and tiny critters, including their larvae and faeces, in everyday foods such as cereals, pasta, crackers, bread, nuts and fruit, and without any detriment to our health. Cockroaches are another matter. According to the WHO, cockroaches can carry pathogens that cause gastroenteritis, dysentery, cholera, leprosy, typhoid fever, plague, poliomyelitis, salmonella, staphylococcus and streptococcus, as well as viruses such as polio.
A few years ago I was tucking into a rather delicious pinaket stir-fry in a popular Filipino restaurant in Melbourne, and as I neared the bottom of the bowl I spotted a rather large cockroach. Now deceased of course. The waitress was very apologetic and considerately advised me I would not have to pay for my entire meal, which I cordially accepted. Dammit, I wish I’d taken a photo of that cockroach.
Are you a coffee drinker per chance?
Could've been worse; could've found half a cockroach.
@Scrooge McDuck: I did once, after I bought something from a uni cafe. I got myself a free OJ out of it and was asked not to tell anyone what I found.
Me too, my Barilla was from Amazon I think.
Extra protein 💹
Two food groups for the price of one - winner!
This the the Way!
The OzB Way!
insects - are you trying to diet, or dying to try it ?
'I, for one, welcome our new insect overlords' - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lcUHQYhPTE
Nuke packets after purchase but not enough to cook
I always put any pasta i buy in the freezer for a day or two before putting it in the pantry cupboard, kill any weevils
The boiling water will probably kill them too, either way you're eating dead weevils
Happens to other brands too…. there's not much good dry pasta out there anyway, it's all mostly cheap nasty stuff, I don't think weevils discriminate on quality, and they may actually prefer the good stuff anyway.
weely ? never heard of that before, and never thought of that
where there's a will there's a weevil ?
Wow - protein enriched pasta! And you're complaining about it?
Too bad if your vegetarian
What you've paid for is pasta. Now you've got protein, organically grown protein. So much value added, and all for 50c. Boil them up and make a nutritional soup. Yum.
"Now you've got protein"
EXACTLY!
This is what the UN busybodies would like to force us to eat … insect protein.
To "save the planet" …
How many global warming/climate change true believers here have switched to an insect diet to "SAVE THE PLANET"???? …. crickets …
I think I'd stomach it alright if it didn't look like a bug. Not a fan of eating animals while they're still in the shape they were while alive
Don't eat it on the regular, but it was honestly pretty tasty when I went to Thailand, and cost less than a dollar for half a kilo. I'd buy it here if it was cheap and easily available.
Position title:pest controller/insect wholesaler
@Jackson: "it was honestly pretty tasty "
So what's stopping you from collecting the numerous and plentiful insects all around you and crushing them up for some really tasty FREE meals then?
A side benefit is that you'd be helping to "SAVE THE PLANET".
win-win
Get down to the reject shop and get yourself a bargain!
hmm - buying decisions about food to eat - what does that shop say on the front - 'REJECT' ?
Blame it on global warming/climate change [Or whatever the latest fad name is]
We all know that global warming/climate change causes everything that's bad and nothing that's good. [At least that's what the incessant propaganda/lies tell us]
PROPAGANDA:
“EXISTENTIAL THREATS” SINCE 1976
Global Cooling
Overpopulation
Acid Rain
Silent Spring
Ozone Hole
Global Warming
Climate Change
I'm pretty sure we've already died and this is just a computer simulation!
REALITY:
We’ve just had the best decade in human history!
We’re living through the greatest improvement in human living standards ever
https://www.spectator.co.uk/2019/12/weve-just-had-the-best-d…
World Presently In An Era Of Unusually Low Weather Disasters
https://riskfrontiers.com/weather-related-natural-disasters-…
Climate change has caused more lying, stupid, corrupt, dystopian morons within the last 50 years than the previous millennium.
Many have become politicians and others actors. The rest are bureaucrats or scholars.
Yes, the conditions for membership of Extinction Rebellion are very strict. You have to prove that you don’t work, that you are below average intelligence, that the police are the enemy, that you take drugs, that you do not agree with democratic principles, that you feel you know better than governments and the people, that you are prepared to do yourself what you are telling everyone else to stop doing, that you only eat meat when no one is looking, , that you have no worry about people dying from your silly protestations, that you are willing to be manipulated by certain idiots who have made a lot of money even though you oppose capitalism, that you are a left wing celeb, that you bath or shower only once a month or less to save the planet, that you are prepared to do anti-social activities to alienate the rest of society, and that you are certain that at the end of the next five years we will all be gone. Fortunately few of us can fulfill any of these conditions, so our membership of this juvenile organisation would be blackballed.
Blame it on global warming/climate change [Or whatever the latest fad name is]
I think I'll blame it on OzBargain comment rants
Man, you really get upset over the loss of a 50c pasta packet.
TLDR?
"Low-IQ individual goes on baseless rant thinking he's on Facebook."
That's from Thailand. You should inform Australian Customs
I think it’s pretty well established as a pest in Australia.
SBOB on 18/02/2022 - 15:50 Comment score below threshold.
