{"id":4004,"date":"2013-01-25T16:57:38","date_gmt":"2013-01-25T21:57:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/home-and-garden-ipm\/?page_id=4004"},"modified":"2025-01-17T10:39:55","modified_gmt":"2025-01-17T15:39:55","slug":"grain-beetles","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/home-and-garden-ipm\/fact-sheets\/common-name-listing\/grain-beetles\/","title":{"rendered":"Grain Beetles"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"TwoGrain beetles <\/strong>are small, brown beetles, about an eighth of an inch long (or 2.5 mm), with flat, narrow bodies that make it easy for them to enter cracks in storage areas or packaged materials.\u00a0 They attack such foods as cereals, breakfast foods, biscuit mixes, sugar, macaroni, flour, rice, dried meats, and dried fruits.\u00a0 They are primarily found where these dry foodstuffs are stored.\u00a0 Their presence in food makes it undesirable for human consumption.\u00a0\u00a0 The beetles are unable to break or eat through hard shelled seeds such as corn, but they may be found in grain containing broken kernels or in processed cereal products.<\/p>\n

There are two kinds of grain beetles we commonly see in Maine: the Sawtoothed grain beetle<\/strong> and the closely related Merchant grain beetle<\/strong>.\u00a0 Both of these are found throughout the world.\u00a0 No diseases are associated with either of these beetles.<\/p>\n\n\t\t