Deggi Mirch infestation

[DalPuri]

Birds aren't affected by chillies or chilli powder. Its a good way of deterring squirrels from the feeder.

They could be moth larvae, hard to tell from a photo.

[George]

I think you may be correct that it was moth larvae.

Here's an image I found via google for one kind of moth and it looks remarkably similar. And, yes, moths are a known pest in my area:

[livo]

Pantry moths are a real problem out here and there are certain things they just love in the grub stage.  Dried fruit and bran are among the worst so Sultana Bran is a paradise for grubs. 

Not sure if you can get them over there but I use a pantry moth trap which is a piece of cardboard that you fold into a triangular prism shape, open each end. The inside is lined with a bait infused sticky gel.  After a few week in the pantry it is basically full when the infestation is bad.  I regularly need to go through and locate the source of infestation and toss it out.

I have recently been going through all of my herbs and spices, grains, flours and legumes and transferring them to O-ring sealed Clip-it containers.  I have found bugs inside them so they must come inside the original packaging.