# Poll: Bugs in your rice **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 13, 2010, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-bugs-in-your-rice/560584 "2010-11-13T19:42:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Unintentionally\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unintentionally_blank/32/5418_2.png) [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2010, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-bugs-in-your-rice/560584/21 "2010-11-14T00:13:27Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > wiggly things in my starch. Album title. ---
**Author:** ![Teacake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Teacake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teacake)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2010, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-bugs-in-your-rice/560584/22 "2010-11-14T00:33:20Z")
Meh. I’ve eaten flour with weevils in it in the past, I wouldn’t throw the rice away. I’d try to make sure no larvae (or whatever) got on my partner’s plate though, to forestall the poor reaction I suspect they would invoke. I have to throw the bread away as soon as it gets visible mould these days; I used to just pick those fuzzy circles off. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2010, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-bugs-in-your-rice/560584/23 "2010-11-14T00:42:28Z")
> [@Unintentionally\_Blank](#): > > You buy a 25 lb bag of long grain white rice you bought from Costco. You’re about half-way through it. After a long time eating non-rice meals, you pull the bag out of the bottom of the pantry, grab a measuring cup, and pull out three cupfuls of rice. Someone didn’t store their rice properly. For longer-term storage you need to remove the oxygen. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2010, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-bugs-in-your-rice/560584/24 "2010-11-14T01:08:44Z")
you wash the critters out when you wash the rice. No excuse for bugs in the cooked rice… ---
**Author:** ![Cowgirl\_Jules](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4af34b/32.png) [@Cowgirl\_Jules](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cowgirl_Jules)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2010, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-bugs-in-your-rice/560584/25 "2010-11-14T01:55:34Z")
The chickens would probably get rice with visible bugs. Invisible bugs, well. What I don’t know doesn’t hurt me. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2010, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-bugs-in-your-rice/560584/26 "2010-11-14T02:39:30Z")
I’d let my wife decide. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2010, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-bugs-in-your-rice/560584/27 "2010-11-14T03:45:30Z")
Doing field work in Belize we recognized that there are basically 3 reactions from people who found small (smaller than mosquitoes) bugs in their drinks: 1. The noob - Freak out and push the drink aside and not touch it again. 2. Seasoned vet - Pick out the bug with a spoon or finger and keep drinking. 3. Hardcore - Just keep drinking. I have found bugs in my rice, and if I see them during the rinse stage, I try to rinse them off. If I miss them, I don’t worry about it and eat away. The rice has been boiled after all. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2010, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-bugs-in-your-rice/560584/28 "2010-11-14T03:52:15Z")
The bugs aren’t so much a problem, but if bugs are in there, it’s likely that there may be moisture in there as well. That’s a much more serious problem. ---
**Author:** ![drastic\_quench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2010, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-bugs-in-your-rice/560584/29 "2010-11-14T04:28:42Z")
I’m supposed to wash my rice? ---
**Author:** ![multimediac17](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/839c29/32.png) [@multimediac17](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/multimediac17)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2010, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-bugs-in-your-rice/560584/30 "2010-11-14T04:56:06Z")
As a general rule, if anything is alive and/or moving in my food, the food goes in the bin. ---
**Author:** ![Fried\_Dough\_Ho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a88e57/32.png) [@Fried\_Dough\_Ho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fried_Dough_Ho)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2010, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-bugs-in-your-rice/560584/31 "2010-11-14T05:00:59Z")
> [@drastic\_quench](#): > > I’m supposed to wash my rice? It depends if you like the grains to be separated or if you like “sticky rice” and have them stick together. If you rinse your rise, you are washing away some of the external material that causes rice to stick together. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2010, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-bugs-in-your-rice/560584/32 "2010-11-14T05:05:53Z")
One time ants got into a bag of my granny’s sugar. She poured it into two baking sheets. Set it on a card table directly in the hot summer sun. It was at least 102 out there. One hour later every ant had left. She Poured the sugar in a glass jar. Good as new. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2010, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-bugs-in-your-rice/560584/33 "2010-11-14T05:31:40Z")
Hell no I’m not eating it!!! Why not just have a heaping bowl of [casu marzu](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casu_marzu) with it. _blergh_ ---
**Author:** ![EvilTOJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee59a6/32.png) [@EvilTOJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilTOJ)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2010, 10:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-bugs-in-your-rice/560584/34 "2010-11-14T10:07:48Z")
It really depends. If it looks like it’s full of giant weevils and wriggling it goes out to the backyard for the chickens to feast on. If there’s not a lot of weevils or they’re really small, I’ll just leave them and cook em in. The important thing to remember is you have to choose the lesser of the two weevils. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2010, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-bugs-in-your-rice/560584/35 "2010-11-14T12:54:04Z")
Bugs float rice doesn’t. They will separate that way. It works to separate infertile seeds for many plants too. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2010, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-bugs-in-your-rice/560584/36 "2010-11-14T13:10:22Z")
Insects drop feces like anything else. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2010, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-bugs-in-your-rice/560584/37 "2010-11-14T13:13:52Z")
BTW–keep your rice in plastic bags, plastic or glass jars, or watertight metal containers, to control this problem. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2010, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-bugs-in-your-rice/560584/38 "2010-11-14T13:50:30Z")
I live by myself and can buy a pound of long-grain white rice at Big Lots for a dollar, so if I find some bugs in it I’m only throwing a most a couple of cups worth away, so that’s what I do. ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2010, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-bugs-in-your-rice/560584/39 "2010-11-14T14:49:16Z")
It has been long deeply ingrained it me that there is no greater sin than to waste rice! Straight to hell you’ll go, for sure. I am a believer that there are always some small bugs/bugs to be in rice. Nature of the beast, having cleverly become almost exactly the size and weight of a grain of rice. This is why you always, always wash the rice. They are almost, but not quite, the right weight. Rinsing in water for a few seconds, will bring the culprits to the surface where they are easily picked out. I wouldn’t throw out the rice, unless there were live bugs in it. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2010, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-bugs-in-your-rice/560584/40 "2010-11-14T15:15:44Z")
It’s rice, one of the world’s cheapest and most plentiful foods. For the same reason I feel no need to buy a 25 lb bag to save a couple of bucks (no place to put it, really), I also see no reason to knowingly eat infested rice to save a couple of bucks. The occasional bug bit doesn’t bother me,as I rinse my rice before cooking, but if there were more than a couple, out it goes. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-bugs-in-your-rice/560584.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-bugs-in-your-rice/560584.md?page=3)