Why would bugs suddenly appear in well-sealed rice?

This article was reviewed by Liu Shaowei, Deputy Director and Professor of Food and Drug Regulatory Research Center, East China University of Science and Technology

Rice is one of the essential staple foods in our daily life. No matter what delicious dish it is, it can be paired with a bowl of fragrant rice.

But before steaming rice, many people have encountered this situation: when the bucket or bag of rice is sealed, when you open it after a while, many small insects will appear "out of thin air" inside.

Some people wonder, how can there be bugs in a well-sealed container? Where do they come from? Let's read on with these questions!

It turns out that these insects have a fancy name called rice weevils, and they go through four stages during their growth: eggs, larvae, pupae, and adults. If the rice bucket or rice bag is well sealed, they will definitely not enter after it is sealed, but have already sneaked in before it is sealed.

When rice is still growing in the field, rice weevils bite open the rice grains and lay their eggs inside, then spit out secretions to plug the holes, making it difficult for humans to find them. Even when the adult weevils die during the process of processing rice into rice, the eggs will still be in the rice grains. In addition, rice may also be contaminated with eggs during transportation.

Now, do you understand?

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