October, ’24] doane: control of cereal food insect 549 
THE POSSIBILITY OF WEEVIL DEVELOPMENT IN NEGLECTED 
SEEDS IN WAREHOUSES 
By A. O. Larson and C. K. Fisher, Alhambra, California 
(Withdrawn for publication elsewhere) 
THE CONTROL OF INSECTS IN CEREAL FOOD PRODUCTS 
By R. W. Doane, Stanford University 
Abstract 
Germea, cream of wheat, corn meal and other breakfast cereals are often found 
to be infested with insects. In an attempt to find the source of this infestation 
studies were made of the packages in which these cereals are packed and of the steri¬ 
lizers at some of the mills, and it was found that frequently the sterilization process 
is not sufficient to destroy all of the insects. 
At other times the cereal is subjected to a reinfestation after it has been sterilized. 
A table showing various temperatures at which insects will be killed is given and 
a description is given of a sterilizing apparatus devised by the author with which 
electric heat is used to sterilize the cereal with an exposure of approximately two 
seconds. 
At more or less frequent intervals packages of germea, cream of wheat, 
corn meal, rolled oats and other breakfast cereals are returned by the 
consumer to the dealer because these packages are found to be infested 
with insects. Usually the infestation is very light, but the presence of a 
single insect, especially if it is a larva which is spinning a web wherever it 
goes, is considered sufficient reason for refusing to use any of the material 
in the package. 
Of course, the question as to the source of this infestation immediately 
arises. The housewife is sure that the insects did not get in the package 
while it was in the pantry; the retail dealer feels just as sure that the 
conditions in his store are not to blame, and so the responsibility is 
forced back upon the manufacturer who must bear the loss. Whether 
this is just, must, of course, be determined by a series of observations in 
the mills and warehouses, but our work during the last eight years has 
convinced us that where insects are found in well sealed packages the 
source of the infestation may usually be traced to the mill. 
It is a common belief among many millers that some “germ” may 
get on the grain while it is in the field and, in some mysterious manner, 
survive the operations that the grain must undergo during the process of 
preparing it, and finally hatch out or give rise to the insect that is found 
in the sealed package. This belief is probably due to the fact that in the 
East and particularly in the South, the Angoumois grain moths lay 
