Woodworm in standalone kitchen cupboard

[SSW83]

Hi,

I have recently bought an old kitchen cupboard unit which appears to have/had an infestation of woodworm. I'm unsure if it is an active infestation (I haven't actually seen any "fresh dust"), but have moved it outside as a precaution. I was thinking of treating it anyway, using some Cuprinol woodworm treatment (because it is easily available) but I'm unsure whether it would be safe to store food in the cupboard after the treatment has been applied and fully dried. I have asked the question to Cuprinol but they said it will take 5 - 7 days for a response, and the weather is going to turn in a few days so will need to bring it back in the house.

Would anyone know whether these types of woodworm treatments are safe for food storage post-treatment? Or can you recommend one that is?

As an aside, we've also been having a spate of greenbottle fly in the kitchen in the last week or so. Several a day and couldn't figure out how they were getting in. Checking behind this cupboard and found several pupae on the floor around the foot of the cupboard. Turning it upside down revealed an assortment of nests. Makes my skin crawl! From what I have read the woodworm is a beetle larvae, so these incidents shouldn't be connected, right?

Many thanks,

Simon

 

[foxhole]

Should always clean second hand furniture before use.

 

[Roger928]

The exposed sawn edges were probably not sealed during the installation process leaving them vulnerable to insect infestation and moisture ingress problems.

 

[SSW83]

Thanks for the replies so far. We did clean the inside, but that obviously was nowhere near sufficient. We've certainly learnt many lessons with this item. There is also a bad bodge repair on the structure that we hadn't noticed until this occurred.