Detection of eggs of stored-product insects in flour with staining techniques

Chemical stains were investigated with the aim of developing a method for detecting eggs of stored-product insects in refined wheat flour (white flour), so that eggs and flour particles could be distinguished easily. Eggs of the rust-red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum, the saw-toothed grain beetle, Oryzaephilus surinamensis and the rice moth, Corcyra cephalonica were detected by staining with 0.1% bromocresol green or 1:1 mixture of bromocresol green+0.5% orange G solution after acid digestion of the flour particles. In contrast to the standard AACC method of staining with iodine solution where both eggs and flour particles were stained brownish-yellow or yellow, bromocresol green alone or in mixture with orange G, differentially stained the insect eggs and the flour particles distinct orange and green, respectively. Eggs in flour could also be detected using 0.05% acid fuchsin but both eggs and flour particles were stained uniformly pink.