https://files.ozbargain.com.au/upload/175189/94229/a38a8479-…
Have been buying Biondi pasta from the Reject Shop for 50c. All of a sudden insects have hatched in all the bags I had (only 4) this bag is the worst but the others have a few. The pasta was bought within the last few months. I’ve never had this issue with pasta.
Sometimes being cheap just isn’t worth it. You can literally hear them crawling around. Lesson learned.
Having said that I agree that it’s not worth buying these kinds of things from the reject shop.
Why not? You said so yourself that it could happen to any pasta product.
Have been using this pasta brand for more than a year now, no problems whatsoever.
Why not? You said so yourself that it could happen to any pasta product.
I thought it was quite clear the messaging was the % chance of better experience is from Coles/Woolies
I suspect the reject shop stuff has been stored for a while before they sell it, so it has a shorter life before any potential critters hatch.
yes - buying my food from the REJECT shop - comes under the category of 'no' …
Believe it or not almost 100% of the stuff that comes in on pallets is out on the shelves within a day or two. There's simply not enough room in the back to store anything. Once it's on the shelves though, it can take a looooong time before someone buys it. Always one or two interesting surprises during stocktake.
Source: Did a very short stint there when I was between jobs. It wasn't worth it.
Less bugs than BF2042.
More natural than plant based meat
You mean less bugs than Dying Light 2.
You bought discounted pasta with 3rd world country origins, can't really say i'm all that surprised.
It says it’s made in Australia.
Wow you are right. The initially few batches I bought were made in Kenya from memory, and it was actually pretty nice. The few packs I have at the moment are made in Australia.
If there is one thing to not cheap out on it is quality of food
However 50cents or 50 dollars I don't expect my food to have bugs hatching out of it
I mean I get the 99cent pasta from Coles never had an issue
If the insects like it it must be really good!
Have been buying Biondi pasta from the Reject Shop for 50c.
I guess you have thrown out your receipts.
Also, why buy pasta from the Reject Shop of all places? ALDI is almost as cheap.
Yep definitely thrown out receipts. I’m not going to go back for a return or anything.
The reject shop is near the play area in our closest shopping centre . If we go as a family I sometimes duck into reject shop on the way to grab coffees whilst hubby minds the kiddo. Reject shop sometimes has some good things eg for a while we were buying said kiddo’s Hamilton sensitive wash there for $5 (rather than $10-15).
San remo. No bugs.
Could happen to any brand.
I’d have no issues with buying $0.50 pasta if it was Italian.
Italian pasta cooked and tastes better than Australian and other countries’ pasta.
I used to work in a grocery store and had to throw out packets of pasta once the weevils hatched. It was a fairly common occurrence.
It was most common in a brand that had an Italian name (but made in Australia).
Just the other week I got a dog food that had hundreds of weevils inside it. I believe it is fairly common but you may just be getting the correct environmental conditions for them to thrive combined with buying more packets than you normally would, which gives them time to hatch.
From what I understand, they don't spoil the food at all.
If the packet is still sealed, they may be happy to accept a refund for the pasta with visible weevils.
Not the worst thing I've seen sealed in a bag of pasta. Used to work nightfill and had seen baby mice in packet pasta before 🤮
Weevils were pretty common. We'd just put the boxes/packets to the side and I guess they claimed them as shrinkage. This is back in early 2000s.
seen baby mice in packet pasta
Stop with the pest flex ….. weevils are more than enough barf
I once had a baby elephant in my packaged lettuce. I named him Charlie.
Keep it in the sun.. they will go away.. then wash pasta well cook and eat..
Free protein.
You will eat bugs & be happy
This can happen to any brand, irrespective of the price. Always be watchful. What if the price of this pasta was $1.50 and not $0.50? You would still see insects.
Well, I guess better an insect infestation inin a sealed packet of pasta that's easy to toss (or return lol) than something like a large bag of rice or container I wouldn't want to toss.
Thankfully I haven't had either …
Is there a batch no or similar printed on the pasta? Might be worth avoiding that until it looks like they've since done a regular clean out of the equipment or different batch of wheat.
Are you sure it came from the pasta?
Years back, my mum bought a bag of rice and found a buttload of weevils shortly after. Initially she blamed the store and returned it.
About a month later, she discovers a weevil infestation from something her sister sent over from overseas and realised it likely came from that and not the rice
Yep almost certain in this instance. I know it can happen the other way though. I went through the whole pantry today and checked every packet, cleaned all the shelves etc. no traces to be found. I think it was just the Biondi pasta this time.
Try and buy Australian produce,
Yes I know there is a price factor, but you can't put price on health.
Most of Aldi's produce is made in Australia,
Avoid any produce made in south east Asia.
According to the packet this pasta was made in Australia.
You see these stories of various bugs in supermarket food on news sites, and I will generally ignore them - it’s possible for that to happen in any food, and it’s not a PSA to tell everyone, it’s just fear mongering mostly.
This is a forum not a news site, I post here about lots of things, not trying to fear monger at all (just insects, nothing to be afraid of). Just general commentary on something I purchased, seems relevant enough for a bargain site when it’s a bargain product lots of the members here buy.
I can't skimp on pasta quality, I don't even like
Aldi penne pasta (79c I think) which is produced to my knowledge by San Remo. I buy Divella for $1.99, much better. Must be the italian in me.
Not Italian but Italian pasta is superior.
Haven't seen Divella sold at Coles or Woolies recently. Where do you get yours from?
My pantry is now stocked with Barilla, La Molisana or Cucina Matese from Coles or Woolies.
Just down at the local fruit shop! It is a wall of Divella at the European fruit shop. I'm in Western suburbs of Melbourne though! Barilla would be my pick out of those.
When we lived in Queensland, we used to have to keep pasta and flour in the fridge because they got invaded by those pesky little bugs
We’re in qld, GC, and I feel like it’s etc Queenslandie this year with the heat and humidity, which may well explain it.
Oh wow, this happened to me once with a San Remo pasta microwave meal about 10+ years ago. I opened it to find these same things living inside (can't see in the packet until you open it!).
I contacted San Remo with all the info and they sent me a box of them for free. They said it sometimes gets into pasta from the silo stage when it's wheat, so they blamed their supplier. I don't understand how it can survive everything from wheat stage to pasta stage but there you go.
I was actually at TRS today and looked at this exact product (before I read my email and saw this post tonight). I almost bought some. I think I'll just stick with Coles or Woolies.
Don't skimp on pasta or tinned tomatoes. It just isn't worth it.
You should get Garofalo, Di Cecco or a similar brand and Mutti tinned tomatoes if you can or Annalisa if not.
So many good taglines here:
‘See no weevil, hear no weevil’
‘Weevil Kanevil’
And my personal favourite, if there was a video game about your predicament it would be: ‘The Weevil Within’
From what i have read ( I bake a lot and buy a lot of flour etc), most flour based products will have this eventually. It all depends on how long you have it for and how long it has been stored for etc. Freezing it is the best way to stop it from happening but once unfrozen, I am not sure if it can still happen if untouched for several months / years. Those eggs come with the raw ingredients, so its not like you can really buy a expensive product that is guaranteed to not have it.
50c from REJECT - not for me !
I go the whole hog and splash out at Woolworths - https://www.woolworths.com.au/shop/productdetails/44571/esse… - 80c …
Coles 69.8 Qty per 100g / 100ml
Woolworths Approx.70.9g Quantity Per 100g / 100mL
only Woolworths specifies the unit of measurement 'g' for grams
Coles does not - so 69.8 may be the count of weevil eggs expected ?
I've only ever found weevils at woolies.
Obviously this is something that shouldn't occur, and it may suggest there's a systemic problem with how the pasta is produced or stored, or storage of the flour. However it may also be a one off contamination event.
I assume the OP has contacted the company (not Reject Shop) to let them know of the problem?
This Is What You Get for Buying
50cReject Shop Pasta
fixed…
I use to be a sales rep. We use to do planograms in the supermarkets in the pasta isle. This is a very common occurrence. I guess they get into the packets during production and during shipping/ transportation it is the perfect temperature for the eggs to grow and hatch. We use to throw out hundred of pasta packs across the supermarkets. It has nothing to do with the price of the pasta. It was across all brands. I guess that's why they suggest you cook the pasta in boiling hot water.
You can store you pasta with bay leaves
'they suggest you cook the pasta in boiling hot water'
that's the only way I've ever done it
I'm wondering how else people might try to cook pasta ?
Free proteins!
it's fine if they don't claim vegan
This could literally happen to any pasta or starch based products.
Having said that I agree that it’s not worth buying these kinds of things from the reject shop. I buy the cheap ones from Coles and woolies and it taste quite good, and cheap as well.