How to Get Rid of Pantry Moths in Rice

Pantry moths in one bag of rice can spread to the food stored around it. Getting rid of them takes a search of the nearby food, a clear-out of anything contaminated, a thorough clean and a few well-placed traps. Here is how.

Why pantry moths end up in your rice

Rice is a stored dry grain, exactly the kind of food pantry moth larvae feed on. The moths in your cupboard, typically Indian meal moths, most likely came home as eggs in that very bag. Rice can sit untouched in the cupboard for a long time, which gives the larvae a steady supply of food. (Related read: What do pantry moths eat?)

How to get rid of pantry moths in rice

Start with the rice. Pour each bag into a large bowl and look for grains stuck together in clumps or for silky webbing. Rice with either should be bagged tightly and discarded in your outdoor trash.

Then widen the search. Larvae wander away from their food to pupate and can turn up on neighboring shelves, in other products and along the walls. Look over the grains, pasta, baking mixes, cereal, nuts, seeds, dried fruit and spices stored nearby, and throw out anything that shows webbing or clumps.

Vacuum the shelves and corners, wipe them with a vinegar-and-water solution and spray them with Six Feet Under, made with plant-derived ingredients, which kills any remaining moths or larvae on contact. Rice and other grains you are keeping move into glass or metal containers that close completely instead of returning to their bags.

Traps are what stop the population from growing. Pantry Moth Traps lure in male moths, which ends the mating cycle. We recommend three: one on an open shelf in the rice cupboard, one on a kitchen counter and a third that completes a triangle, with a mix of high and low locations. Move a trap every few days until it starts catching. Mist any moths you see flying around with Six Feet Under.

Clear rice of pantry moths, step by step

• Pour and look: clumps or webbing mean the rice goes.
• Widen the check: grains, pasta, spices and other nearby foods.
• Reset the shelves: vacuum, vinegar-and-water, then Six Feet Under.
• Contain it: glass or metal containers that close completely.
• Set the traps: Pantry Moth Traps in a triangle, high and low.

Related: How to get rid of pantry moths in flour and How to get rid of pantry moths in cereal.

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