Posted in Pest Worms

Small Worms in Food

Have you ever found small worms in your food? One of our readers from Northern California has, as we recently received a question about a tiny, dark worm that this reader found in her coffee grounds. (By “dark worm,” we mean that the color of its body is dark, not that its outlook is Schopenhauerian.) The worm (or what is believed to be a worm; in fact, it’s probably some sort of larva) is simultaneously described as “tiny” and “long,” so it is presumably long relative to its thin width, and is not long in absolute terms (which is actually a nonsensical concept, as something is long only in relation to something else). Any time people find worms in food, we suspect a few creatures. Waxworms or wax worms, which are the larvae of Indianmeal Moths (a.k.a. “pantry moths”), are commonly found in foods, as are flour beetles (and their larval form, known as “flour beetle larvae,” naturally). We’re not sure if our reader found either, but this is as good a place as any to talk about these two common “worms” found in food.