Pet food is very attractive to pests. Scientists surveyed eight retail pet stores in Kansas for insect pests during a seven-month period, and collected an amazing 30 species and over 41,000 insects. The insects were most often concentrated near bulk food bins, in stockrooms, or on the shelves that held wild bird seed and food for small animals.
When anyone brings pet food home, it should be considered a potential source of pests. These pests then spread and contaminate human and other pet food packages that are open or are easy to chew into the package.
Always inspect pet food before you bring it home. Besides looking for actual beetles, moths, and small caterpillars, check for signs of pests, such as holes in bags or boxes where insects may be emerging, tears or gaps where moths and beetles could get into the packages, and webbing produced by stored food caterpillars.
