January 30, 2024

Food Safety Awareness – Let’s Talk About Pests!

Know Your Enemy in Food Production

Pests in the food production industry pose significant threats, from contamination to costly shutdowns. Understanding the most common pests, their biology, signs of activity, and effective treatments is essential for maintaining a pest-free environment. Here’s a quick guide to the usual suspects in UK food production.

Rats & Mice

Biology: Rodents are prolific breeders, with rats and mice capable of producing litters every few weeks. Their gnawing habits can damage packaging, machinery, and electrical wiring.
Signs of Activity: Droppings, urine, gnaw marks, nests, and greasy smear marks along walls. Mouse droppings look like black grains of rice whereas rat droppings are much bigger
Treatment: Use of traps, sealing entry points and maintaining cleanliness.

Stored Product Moths

Key Culprits: White-shouldered and Indian meal moth

Biology: These moths lay eggs in food products like grains, flour, nuts and chocolate. Larvae, not adults, cause the most damage by feeding on stored goods.
Signs of Activity: Webbing in food packaging, adult moth sightings, and contaminated products with actual larvae, cast skins or frass (moth droppings).
Treatment: Regular inspections, airtight storage, and the use of pheromone traps to monitor and control infestations.

Stored Product and Causal Intruder Beetles

Key Culprits: Flour beetles, biscuit beetles, and ground beetles.

Biology: Stored product beetles thrive in warm, dry conditions and can our food in manufacturing. Ground beetles run for cover in wet weather like us and end up inside the factory. Both can cause our products to become contaminated.
Signs of Activity: Infested products may contain live beetles, larvae, or damaged food. Look for fine dust as a by-product of their feeding. Ground beetles are often mis-identified as cockroaches.
Treatment: Traps, Dispose of infested products, clean storage areas thoroughly, keep a close eye on our ingredients and packaging. After wet weather ground beetles can often be found sheltering inside the factory or warehouse.

Cockroaches

Biology: These insects can come into the factory in people’s belongings or in the products used in food manufacturing.
Signs of Activity: Live insects (identified by the speed they can run), don’t bother flying as a result, more often seen at night and can occur anywhere.
Treatment: Regular inspections, staff awareness and insect monitoring with traps.

Flies

Biology: These insects can spread more germs than any other pest, just by landing on a surface or your food.
Signs of Activity: An abundance of flies is normally a result of something festering, rotting meat, a dead animal or rotting food.
Treatment: Finding the source of the problem is the key to fly control.

Stay Vigilant

Pests in food production are not just a nuisance but a serious risk to health and compliance. Regular inspections, proper hygiene, and professional pest control solutions are your best defence. Knowing your enemy is the first step to defeating them – stay proactive to protect your business and customers. Keep pests out, and quality in!

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Food Safety Awareness – Let’s Talk About Pests!

TESTIMONIALS

Commercial Customer

Lee Scott, Facilities & Compliance Manager

Residential Customer

David Wythes

Commercial Customer

Polly Holt, Store Manager

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