Protection of Packaged Food from Insect Infestation by the Use of Silica Gel1

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Abstract
Paper flour sacks and shelf liners were treated with silica gel dust by pressing it into the outside surfaces at 0.5 gram per square foot. Treated and untreated sacks of flour were placed on treated and untreated shelf liners in 2 cabinets, each infested with 800 adults of the confused flour beetle, Tribolium confusum Jaquelin duVal. The tops of the sacks were left open to test the ability of the insects to infest the flour by climbing the outer surfaces. The flour was sifted and the cabinets were reinfested with insects every 2 weeks. During a 5-month period, fewer insects infested the treated sacks than the untreated sacks. Untreated and treated sacks on the floor of each cabinet had higher insect counts than sacks on shelves. Treated shelf liners did not prevent infestations of sacks but may have reduced the severity of infestations by controlling the insects in the cabinets. Treated sacks were effective in preventing infestation of flour by the saw-toothed grain beetle, Oryzaephilus surinamensis (L.) in an infested room where population pressure, as indicated by counts in untreated sacks, was less intense than in the cabinets infested with T. confusum.

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