--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -8,8 +8,8 @@ requires = [
 	"lxml",
 	"pathspec",
 	"tree-sitter>=0.19.0",
-	"snakeoil~=0.10.3",
-	"pkgcore~=0.12.17",
+	"snakeoil~=0.10.4",
+	"pkgcore~=0.12.18",
 ]
 build-backend = "setuptools.build_meta"
 
@@ -40,8 +40,8 @@ dependencies = [
 	"lxml",
 	"pathspec",
 	"tree-sitter>=0.19.0",
-	"snakeoil~=0.10.3",
-	"pkgcore~=0.12.17",
+	"snakeoil~=0.10.4",
+	"pkgcore~=0.12.18",
 ]
 
 [project.optional-dependencies]
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ test = [
 doc = [
 	"sphinx",
 	"tomli; python_version < '3.11'",
-	"snakeoil~=0.10.3",
+	"snakeoil~=0.10.4",
 ]
 network = [
 	"requests",
--- a/src/pkgcheck/checks/metadata.py
+++ b/src/pkgcheck/checks/metadata.py
@@ -210,11 +210,10 @@ class IuseCheck(Check):
     def __init__(self, *args, use_addon):
         super().__init__(*args)
         self.iuse_handler = use_addon
-        self.valid_use = atom_mod.valid_use_flag.match
         self.bad_defaults = tuple(['-'] + [f'+{x}_' for x in self.use_expand_groups])
 
     def feed(self, pkg):
-        if invalid := sorted(x for x in pkg.iuse_stripped if not self.valid_use(x)):
+        if invalid := sorted(x for x in pkg.iuse_stripped if not pkg.eapi.is_valid_use_flag(x)):
             yield InvalidUseFlags(invalid, pkg=pkg)
 
         if pkg.eapi.options.iuse_defaults and (bad_defaults := sorted(
--- a/testdata/data/repos/standalone/SourcingCheck/InvalidEapi/expected.json
+++ b/testdata/data/repos/standalone/SourcingCheck/InvalidEapi/expected.json
@@ -1,2 +1,2 @@
 {"__class__": "InvalidEapi", "category": "SourcingCheck", "package": "InvalidEapi", "version": "0", "attr": "eapi", "msg": "EAPI '9999' is not supported"}
-{"__class__": "InvalidEapi", "category": "SourcingCheck", "package": "InvalidEapi", "version": "1", "attr": "eapi", "msg": "invalid EAPI: 'invalid!'"}
+{"__class__": "InvalidEapi", "category": "SourcingCheck", "package": "InvalidEapi", "version": "1", "attr": "eapi", "msg": "invalid EAPI 'invalid!'"}
--- a/tests/checks/test_metadata.py
+++ b/tests/checks/test_metadata.py
@@ -430,7 +430,7 @@ class TestSourcingCheck(misc.ReportTestCase, misc.Tmpdir):
                 """))
             r = self.assertReport(check, self.repo)
             assert isinstance(r, metadata.InvalidEapi)
-            assert f"invalid EAPI: '{eapi}'" in str(r)
+            assert f"invalid EAPI '{eapi}'" in str(r)
 
     def test_sourcing_error(self):
         check = self.mk_check()