As a common food, almost every Chinese family has a situation where they buy more than 10 catties or 20 catties.
But hoarding rice, it is inevitable to store it at home for a period of time, so it is easy to get insects. Especially when the weather is getting worse, the chance of insects is higher!
Looking at these crawling insects in the rice bucket, some will even run out and contaminate other food, which makes people's scalp tingle~
What makes people wonder is, why does good rice grow rice worms? Can rice with rice worms still be eaten? Is there any way to repel insects and prevent insects?
Today, Nuan Nuan will give you answers one by one.
What is a rice worm?
Rice worms, whose scientific name is rice elephants, are one of the pests that are often found in cereals.
In addition to rice, it is mainly used in various stored cereals such as corn, wheat, sorghum, and flour.
When it grows and develops, it will go through the four stages of egg-larva-pupa-adult, and the morphology of each stage is different, so it is difficult for us to notice it before the rice worm is fully developed.
Where do rice worms come from?
The rice worms in the rice may have been in the rice all along, but they exist in the form of eggs, which are not visible to the naked eye.
When the temperature, humidity and other conditions are suitable, the eggs will absorb the nutrients in the rice and grow, and become rice worms.
Then the question arises, why are there insect eggs in rice? There are three main ways:
Parasitized before harvesting
Eggs may be present when the grain is grown.
Due to their small size and deep moth-eating eggs, these eggs are also more difficult to remove during harvesting and processing, and under the right conditions, they hatch into adults.
Pollution of the storage environment
In most households, the container used to store rice is relatively fixed, and there may be eggs from previous rice hidden inside.
When the newly purchased rice is put in, the eggs hatch again and reproduce in the new rice when it encounters the right temperature and humidity.
Of course, it is also possible that the bag or bucket is new, but if it is stored in a dark and damp environment, it may also produce eggs over time.
Process residues
From the rice in the field to the fragrant white rice on the table, there are many processes in between.
The factory rice processing line processes a large amount of grain every day, and in the process, there is a possibility that insect eggs may remain in all parts of the processing equipment, so new rice may also be contaminated with insect eggs.
Can you still eat rice with rice worms?
Although rice worms grow in the grain, it is indeed very annoying, and there is even a saying that rice with rice worms cannot be eaten, it will cause cancer!
In fact, this statement is not correct, the real carcinogenicity is actually because the storage time is too long, due to moisture, mildew during the storage process, and aflatoxin is produced.
Aflatoxin is a highly toxic substance, which can cause acute poisoning after ingestion, and also increases the risk of cancer in the liver and esophagus.
So, for the sake of your family's health, as long as the food is moldy, don't eat it again!
The rice worms in rice, whether they are adults, larvae or eggs, are virus-free and will not cause harmful contamination to rice.
As long as the rice insects are not too serious, it can still be eaten with confidence when it is cleaned when washing rice.
In addition, high-temperature steaming can also kill the eggs, so don't worry too much.
Get rid of the misunderstandings of rice worms
Many people of the older generation will choose to expose the rice to the sun when they find that rice worms are born, thinking that this can drive away rice worms.
But in fact, this method is not advisable!
Rice worms are indeed afraid of light, but when they are exposed to sunlight, they will burrow into the middle of the rice grains, which not only cannot effectively drive them away, but will accelerate their reproduction.
In addition, after the rice is exposed to the sun, the color and taste will deteriorate a lot.
So, how to effectively repel insects and insects?
The chef recommends 3 tips!
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(Warm taste official micro)