Reviewed by William "Willy" Vizcarrondo, NYS DEC Certified Commercial Pesticide Applicator C1825832. Updated September 23, 2026.
Short answer
Pantry pests, and they arrived in a package. UC IPM lists the Indianmeal moth as the most common moth on stored food in the home, along with sawtoothed grain beetles, flour beetles, cigarette beetles and weevils, and notes they usually enter your home in an infested package of food. Webbing in a package, tiny holes in a container and small moths or beetles near the cabinet are the signs.
Moth, beetle or weevil. If you're seeing small tan and copper moths fluttering around the kitchen at night and silky webbing in a bag of cereal, nuts, dried fruit or pet food, it's the Indianmeal moth; the larvae are the small cream-colored caterpillars in the webbing and the moths are the adults. If it's tiny flat brown beetles crawling in flour, cornmeal, pasta or cake mix, it's usually a sawtoothed grain beetle or a flour beetle. If it's small dark hard-shelled insects with a snout, in rice, whole grains or beans, it's a weevil. UC IPM's list of what they infest is almost everything: cereals, flour, cornmeal, rice, dried fruit, nuts, candy, pet foods and spices, from spices to cereal to chocolate.
Open everything. UC IPM notes pantry pests usually enter the home in an infested package of food, commonly one damaged at the store or one that's been open a while, and the infestation spreads from that package to the others around it. So the search is every bag and box in the cabinet, including the ones you'd never suspect: birdseed, dog food, the spice jar you haven't used since last Thanksgiving, dried flowers, the chocolate in the back. Look for webbing in the folds of a package and tiny holes in a container, and for larvae in the corners. The source is the package with the most activity, but by the time you're seeing moths in the kitchen, several packages are involved.
Discard, clean, seal, and don't spray. UC IPM's method is to throw out the infested food, clean the shelves thoroughly with soap and water, getting into the corners and the shelf-pin holes where larvae pupate, and then store dry goods in containers with tight-fitting lids, not plastic bags. Infrequently used flour, spices and grains can be frozen to kill anything in them. Pheromone traps catch the male Indianmeal moths and tell you whether the problem is over. UC IPM's position on insecticides is that they are not recommended for pantry pests, because spraying food storage areas is a bigger health risk than the insects. A cabinet that's been cleared and cleaned is done in a couple of weeks; if the moths keep coming, there's a package you haven't found.
The pantry pest call usually starts with moths in the kitchen in a Garden City or Huntington house after a big grocery run, or beetles in the flour in a Massapequa or Bay Shore kitchen after a bag sat open all summer. The sources we find most are birdseed in the garage, a forgotten bag of dog food and the bulk rice from a warehouse store. Bobby Bugs finds the source, clears the cabinet and sets moth traps, and pantry pest work carries a 90-day written guarantee.
Related
It won't hurt you, but throw it out anyway. The insects, larvae, webbing and droppings are in it, and the package is a source for the rest of the cabinet. Unopened packages nearby that show no webbing or holes can be frozen for a few days as a precaution.
There's a package you missed, or larvae pupated outside the food. Indianmeal moth larvae crawl away from the food to spin cocoons in shelf corners, pin holes, the gap under the shelf lip and the ceiling of the cabinet. Check pet food, birdseed and anything in the garage or basement, and clean the cabinet structure, not just the shelves.
The store, almost always. UC IPM notes pantry pests usually enter the home in an infested package. Once they're in, they spread from package to package, so it looks like the kitchen is the source. Sealed containers stop that.
Still not sure? Call (516) 509-6001 and we'll tell you what you're dealing with.