Thread: How do ants get inside hermetically-sealed bags?

Originally Posted by Simon43

ants

Protein and calcium.

Ant eggs contaminated the food before packaging?

Maybe they ate a small hole in the bag.

Originally Posted by Loy Toy

Ant eggs contaminated the food before packaging?

Yes. Can't remember when or where but do recall reading an article of Ants being found inside sealed bags of sugar. The problem was traced back to the factory and packaging process where eggs were in the sugar before it was bagged and sealed. Sounds like the same thing here.

Ants being so small behave under the Heisenberg's uncertainty principle . Until you see them they are both inside and outside the bag.Or was it Schrödinger Ant?

Originally Posted by Loy Toy

Ant eggs contaminated the food before packaging?

I'm not saying it's impossible, but it is a bit doubtful as ants eggs are laid and kept in the nest. Then there's the very short incubation period to consider. The ingredients of the muesli would have been around for months before reaching Simon's pantry and if the ants had hatched inside the pack, lets be very conservative and say a week before he bought it, there would have been a week's worth of ant shit dust in evidence.

Originally Posted by naptownmike

Maybe they ate a small hole in the bag.

That's what I reckon. A tiny hole would be hard to detect and the bag would still feel sealed with "air" inside it.
Which brings back the idea that the ants hatched inside; it's not air, it's nitrogen, so any hatchlings would have died.

Can ants eat through plastic bags?

The same exact way you can chew yourself into plastic packaging. ... That bite can tear off plastic as well. Not to mention tons of ants work together so going through even thick plastic bags is no biggie for these small guys!

Coincidence, just yesterday young one at Tesco called to tell me he saw loads of ants in a sealed bag of rice.

If it's happened before then clearly it needs to be kept in the fridge, regardless of how.

Ants spend their early life training for just such an eventuality. They also have an enormous appetite for the bag of sawdust you purchased.
Drown them in milk and consume as extra protein.

Originally Posted by jabir

loads of ants in a sealed bag of rice.

Ants or weevils? Weevils can feasibly be latent and hatch in rice.

Keep it in the fridge...

Heres the fix:
Put cereal in bucket
Pour in 2 litres of DDT
Swirl around bucket
Strain in Collander
Put in bowl and add milk.

Originally Posted by Maanaam

it's not air, it's nitrogen

I don't think so - nitrogen is potentially an asphyxiant and care should be taken when using it

^He thinks he's not bald too

If it's those big chunky bags, the seals aren't always 100%. Put it in a Ziploc.

Originally Posted by baldrick

I don't think so - nitrogen is potentially an asphyxiant and care should be taken when using it

Well, I don't know about muesli, but bags of chips are filled with nitrogen. It's a reasonable assumption that breakfast cereals are too.

Originally Posted by Headworx

^He thinks he's not bald too

Indeed.
Following your logic, you're either ignorant or agree that I'm not bald.

"Nitrogen Flushing

When you pick up a bag of snack chips, you can hear and feel the chips banging around, and it seems like there's much more air in the bag than actual chips. But it isn't really like the air you breathe because the package doesn't contain oxygen. All that 'air' is nitrogen gas.








Chip and snack bags are not filled with nitrogen gas just so they look bigger. The bags are designed that way to protect the delicate foods inside from both oxygen exposure and physical damage. The nitrogen replaces the oxygen and cushions the contents.








Unlike oxygen, nitrogen doesn't react with foods, so they stay fresher longer. That's important of course, but nitrogen doesn't affect the flavor or texture of the food, so it's perfect for food preservation. And no worries about the nitrogen gas. It's completely safe. In fact, you're exposed to nitrogen constantly because it makes up about 70 percent of the air you breathe."

https://www.verywellfit.com/nitrogen...-foods-2505948

It's a miracle, but hell I'm catholic so go figure.

Originally Posted by Maanaam

All that 'air' is nitrogen gas.

or nitrogen "mixture " maybe

Originally Posted by Maanaam

And no worries about the nitrogen gas. It's completely safe

well then - that is a lie

Originally Posted by baldrick

or nitrogen "mixture " maybe



well then - that is a lie

No, pure N, apparently. Maybe a mixture, but definitely not anything with O2 in it. Definitely not "air".


Obviously the article is talking about the 250 ml or so inside a bag of crisps. Nobody is going to asphyxiate when that gas escapes into the room from the bag upon opening of it.

what if simon whas inhaling the aroma of his fresh muesli when he opened it ?

He'd have got a whiff of formic acid.

Originally Posted by Maanaam

Ants or weevils? Weevils can feasibly be latent and hatch in rice.

Could be.