Have you ever bought rice or flour in bulk? To be able to save costs, sometimes we often buy staple foods such as rice in large quantities. However, prolonged storage can sometimes make your rice and flour appear maggots or small black insects with rhinoceros-like shapes. You don’t have to be afraid of those little insects, they don’t harm us and you can move them and use rice as usual. If you’re ask does rice turn into maggots? So, you want to know the answer, let’s read on!
You need to know that all types of rice or flour (the result of pounding rice) have larvae in it. These larvae are eggs of maggots or small black insects. Storing rice at room temperature for a long time can cause the larvae to hatch and then turn into maggots. They then look for a way to get out of your rice or flour, seem to crawl and this sometimes disgusts you. But actually this is reasonable. You don’t need to worry, this is not rice that has turned into maggots, so you can still use the rice to make as food and so on.
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However, if you eat rice directly that contains maggots, then this is dangerous because these small insects can live in the intestines and damage the tissues in the stomach. This disease is called myiasis. This is a serious problem that requires prompt and appropriate treatment from a health professional. Among the symptoms of myiasis are diarrhea, abdominal pain, and vomiting.
Does Rice Always Have Bugs In It?
Not all of them contain these insects, it’s just that because rice is food, insects like to get inside and lay eggs there if they can reach it. So, if you buy rice in large quantities, you should store it in a container that can be closed properly.
The important thing you should pay attention to is buying rice carefully. Make sure you buy rice or flour that is new or recently stored in the market (store). Note, your rice must be clean. Old rice is usually not very clean and usually the grains of rice are dusty or some have been partially crushed.
Once you take the rice home, store it safely as we mentioned above, use a container that you can close tightly and cannot be accessed by maggots or other insects such as rice lice.
Maggots or bed bugs are actually harmless as long as you don’t eat them alive. If in rice, of course you wash the rice first before cooking it. Even if there are bed bugs or maggots left, they will die by themselves when you cook them into food.
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Different Kinds Of Food Insects
In foods such as rice and flour there are many types of insects that can enter and settle or lay eggs there. Among others are:
Weevils
Beetles are insects that are widely known and are very often encountered in foods such as rice, pasta, flour, and other grains. These insects go by many names, sometimes called rice weevils, rice scarabs, rice bugs, etc. While its zoological name is Sitophilus oryzae. It is almost the size and shape of rice, has a sharp nose, is dark in color, and has six legs.
Beetles are food pests that can multiply quickly. They can even bite into a paper sack filled with rice and then enter it.

Maggots
Parasites that you usually find in foods such as rice, most likely these are moth hatchlings, this insect is known as Plodia interpunctella (Hübner). This is a common pest that often interferes with the food we store. Sometimes it is found in rice, sometimes in flour or in other foodstuffs.
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In general, the color of the larvae or eggs of maggots is grayish, orange, pink, or slightly greenish, depending on the food they eat or where they emerge.

Where can you find these insects?
This animal is often found in grain storage rooms, and it is considered the main insect that often lands on or enters grains including rice. Grain that is stored poorly will be an attractive place for these animals to breed and live.
Grain products, dog food, nuts, are grains that hatchlings are most likely to target. Beetles really like dry food from grains such as wheat, rice, sunflower seeds, pasta, cereals, or wheat germ. To avoid these insects living in your food or grain, store seeds in containers that can be tightly closed.
Maggot Control: How to get rid of maggots
Maggots are disgusting and dirty insects and are dangerous if they enter the human body. So, any food that may have these insects, before eating or cooking, pay close attention and wash the food first. Indeed, these maggots will die when we cook them. However, finding one or two dead maggots in your food can be disgusting and make you not want to eat again.
So, insects such as maggots and beetles should be removed from the grain. How do you get rid of maggots from grains like flour or rice? Check out our review below.
1. Identify
To be able to get rid of maggots and beetles completely, you must first identify these insects. Get to know what they look like, or get rid of all kinds of stars you get in your grain.
Maggots are fly hatchlings, if so then get rid of flies and keep food and seeds away from flies. Parasitic hatchlings breed in dirty conditions and these can be dangerous if swallowed. If you have passed through food that is eaten without cooking it first, it will be harmful to the intestines. So, there is no reason not to get rid of the maggots or beetles that infest our stored grain.
The maggots look like worms with a cream color but are shorter in size. The largest size is 20 mm or about 3/4 inch long. These disgusting insects do not have legs, but they have two small snares that serve as mouths to keep them alive.
Parasites have a life span of about 5 to 6 days. Then after a week, the maggots will pupate and then turn again into adult flies.
2. Inspection
After identifying the skis, the next step to getting rid of these insects is to inspect them. Parasites will not appear suddenly for no reason.
Be aware that flies are attracted to rotten food, garbage, etc. This rotten food will be a place to lay eggs or store larvae that will hatch later. Pay close attention point by point so that you find where the flies congregate and where you should concentrate the selection.
Where To Inspect
Checking for maggots should be on their favorite foods. Usually it is found in spoiled food, or in rotten or dirty foodstuffs. It can also appear in dirty places or trash cans that have not been disposed of in a long time.
What To Look For
In order to easily find the maggots, you can stalk where the flies stop or by directly looking for the maggots themselves.
Usually maggots appear in the house on dirty places or rotten food, and flies are also an indication of the presence of maggots. Focus on the flies that enter your house, whether they enter through a window gap, a broken window, there are other openings that become access for flies to enter your home.
If you find a fly’s location or access point, then remember or mark it and you have to make a fly trap there or cover it. While the flies that have entered the room first, you can exterminate them with various chemicals that make the insects die.