In a time when the country is dealing with record inflation, most Americans are really conscious about not wasting food.

After ABC Action News Anchor Lauren St. Germain learned of mealworms inside a bag of cereal and found another bag herself with mealworms, she wanted to learn where in the supply chain contamination can happen, what companies are doing to minimize defects in products, and how people can best store their food once they bring it home.

A viewer sent St. Germain a video showing a bag of cereal with mealworms inside. The viewer said she got the box one morning and opened the bag the same day. The viewer provided a receipt to prove the date.

St. Germain wanted to know if this was an isolated incident or if mealworms were inside any other boxes of the cereal. She went to the same store and found the same brand of cereal with a similar lot number. She opened the bag and, after searching, discovered a couple of mealworms inside the bag.

St. Germain contacted both the Target store where she purchased the box and Post Consumer Brands which is the company that makes the cereal Honey Bunches of Oats with Almonds.

The manager at the Target store told St. Germain over the phone that they received two complaints (St. Germain's and the viewer's), and they removed all the boxes with that lot code from the shelves.

The Director of Communications for Post Consumer Brands said in part, "With respect to the product you [St. Germain] purchased, we received one additional report in Tampa of someone finding mealworms in their product. There have been no other reports of this happening in other areas of the country."

"Oh yeah, this is a pretty heavy infestation of worms. It's common to find a few, but this is a lot, so they may have been there for a little while," said Dr. Jill Roberts.

Dr. Roberts is an associate professor at USF and specializes in food safety. ABC Action News asked Dr. Roberts what happens if people don't notice mealworms in food and accidentally eat them.

"So the gross-out factor aside, which yes .... no one wants to eat those. They look really nasty. They are actually edible. So mealworms are raised for feed, they are used for animals, and they are used for humans in some places where it is hard to get protein. They are actually raised on purpose to be used for foods," said Dr. Roberts.

In the case of these two boxes of cereal, the point of entry along the supply chain where the mealworms got in is unknown. Dr. Seckin Ozkul is the Director of the USF Supply Chain Innovation Lab and provided more insight on where it could have happened.

"It could be in multiple different places within the supply chain. It could be the transportation, or it could be the warehouse where something like this could happen as well," said Dr. Seckin Ozkul.

Both experts explained companies are actively working to stop contamination from getting into the consumer's home.

"So what is the production plant going to do to prevent that? Inspections. They are going to use blowers they can use to get them out, but if they are tiny, tiny eggs, they may actually pass through some of that process," said Dr. Roberts.

"Companies are going to be doing QAQC (quality assurance, quality control) checks to ensure the products are transported throughout the supply chain in a healthy fashion. So - when my product hits the shelf - my product is actually good to go and doesn't have any defects," said Dr. Ozkul.

Dr. Roberts said there are ways to best prevent contamination in food like grains once the products are in a consumer's home.

"If you are concerned, you can put your cereal in hard plastic containers. So not Ziploc bags, not the bags they come in, but hard containers. Things cannot burrow through those," said Dr. Roberts. She said the key is to make sure your food stays dry.

"One thing that actually encourages the growth of those is moisture, which is going to be a problem because we live in Florida," said Dr. Roberts.

Here's the bottom line from Dr. Roberts: "So are they dangerous? No, not at all. That being said, we don't want them in our food, and we take a lot of steps to try and keep them out."

Dr. Roberts said it's critical to report any issues with food products right away by contacting the store where the item was purchased and the company that made the item. Consumers can also report an issue to the FDA.

Post Consumer Brands Response (continued):