Mites in rice

[Nodger]

A while back we bought around 3kg loose basmati rice from one of those shops that sells dry goods from huge tubs. We'd been using it for a while when I noticed there were tiny insects in it. I rinsed it well and carried on using it for a little while (on the basis that I wouldn't hesitate to eat, say, lettuce that had had insects on). However, after a while it was a real turn off and I ended up throwing it away. I've only bought packaged rice since then.

Any idea what the infestation was? Some kind of rice mite? Is it dangerous to health? We suffered no ill effects.

[Euphemia]

Weevils perhaps. Not nice but harmless

[heathfield]

Extra protein, and harmless as Phemie says. But they'd have to crap, and the thought of insect poo in the rice isn't very appealing!

[237SJ]

They`re called Psocids.

[Nodger]

Thanks all. Will stick to prepackaged in future, I think.

[chris1957au]

Sound like weevils, trouble is they will get into everything if your not careful,
Make sure you keep thing in airtight jars, anything infected leave out in the sun, Hard in THE uk I know lol, Also add small bags of Bayleaves taped to the inside of your containers lids too as it acts as a natural insectacide.

[scrummyyummy]

I once bought a bag of Silver Spoon granulated sugar and when I opened it, it had weevils in it. I had never heard of weevils until the shop assistant told me when I returned it. She said they were harmless.

[EDDIE51]

I lived in Zambia for 3 years , they are weevils. They were in everything like flour , rice etc. We had a means to deal with it , put the flour, rice whatever in the freezer overnight, this freezes the weevils so they can't move. Then just sieve them out . After a while it was second nature we just accepted it.

[heathfield]

Putting the food in the freezer will kill off any eggs as well as the weevils.