Tag Archives: integrated pest management

Ron Harrison, Ph.D., Director of Technical Services, Orkin, LLC
Bug Bytes

Don’t Welcome Pests into Your Facility This Winter

By Ron Harrison, Ph.D.
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Ron Harrison, Ph.D., Director of Technical Services, Orkin, LLC

Days are now shorter, and temperatures are slowly dropping in most parts of the country. It is the time of year when individuals look to spend a little more time indoors and a little less time outdoors. However, did you know we aren’t the only ones looking for relief from the cold?

Similarly to us, this is the time of year when certain pests look for a nice, warm home to spend the winter months. The downside for food facilities is that they offer everything pests need for survival—food, water and harborage.

In fact, food facilities can face numerous pest challenges during the colder months, including ants, cockroaches, stored product pests and flies. Additionally, the most common and challenging winter pests are rodents. Due to their ability to squeeze through small spaces and adapt to many different environments, they can be a facility’s worst nightmare.

Don't let rats and mice threaten food safety audit scores. Image courtesy of Orkin
Don’t let rats and mice threaten food safety audit scores. All images courtesy of Orkin

The presence of rats and mice can lead to food contamination and can threaten your food safety audit scores, reputation and bottom line. Rodents are known carriers of deadly neurological and respiratory diseases like lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV) and Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome. Ticks, mites and fleas can feed on infected rodents and transmit diseases like pox, plague and typhus indirectly to humans—putting not only employees in your facility at risk, but also customers.

Rodents can be tough to control and are very adaptable at living indoors. Some mice that take shelter inside due to weather can survive indefinitely as indoor mice. In fact, there is a possibility rodents may have already taken shelter by now, so it’s important to talk with your pest management professional about common areas where rodents may be hiding.

As you winterize your facility, it’s important to keep rodents and other pests in mind. A proactive approach to facility maintenance, as well as an effective Integrated Pest Management (IPM) program, can help keep pests out and your food product and business secure.

The following tips will help keep your facility off pests’ radars this winter.

Stay Vigilant in Monitoring for Pest Activity

Vigilant, ongoing monitoring is a cornerstone of an effective IPM program. With this strategy in place, there are many tactics you and your staff can use.

  • Identify “hot spots”. Work closely with your pest management professional to identify the most common places pests reside in around your property. These can include loading docks, utility rooms, employee break rooms, dumpsters and trash cans, storage rooms and behind any heavy, immobile pieces of equipment. By identifying these hot spots, you’ll be able to prevent pests from entering your facility.
  • Involve your employees. Educate your staff on the pests themselves, as well as the conditions that attract them, and encourage your employees to report any signs of problems. Utilize a reputable pest management company to provide your employees with this training—many providers offer training at no extra cost.
Look for gaps and fill them to keep those pesky critters out!
Look for gaps and fill them to keep those pesky critters out!

Strengthen Your Facility’s Perimeter

While certain pests can hitch a ride into your facility via shipments and even on people, the biggest pest threats start on the outside. With this in mind, you can take fight pests outside by strengthening your perimeter.

  • Look for and fill cracks and crevices. Crawling pests like to creep inside through small openings. Additionally, rodents can squeeze through holes the size of a quarter, mice through dime-sized openings that create gaps barely noticeable to the human eye. Regularly inspect the exterior of your facility for any cracks that may develop and pay close attention to openings that can form around pipes and utility penetrations. Don’t forget to seal any holes in exterior walls with water-resistant sealant and steel or metal mesh.
  • Eliminate clutter and attractants. Rodents may burrow or live up to 100 yards away from your structure, and flies, ants and cockroaches are also on the hunt for easy meals that can often be found on the property. Keep trash handling areas free of clutter, and clean up any uncovered garbage or standing water outside. Also, work with your waste management company to ensure they clean and switch out dumpsters regularly.
  • Keep landscaping off your building. Pests will often use vegetation as staging and feeding sites.  Keep trees trimmed and plants at least 12 inches from your building, and remove leaves quickly so pests cannot use them for cover. As an extra step, consider installing a two-foot wide gravel strip around the perimeter of the building. Think of these exclusion techniques as digging a moat around your castle.
  • For rodents, bait stations can be set outside. Work with your pest management provider to place tamper-resistant bait stations around the exterior of the facility. However, do not place the stations near doors or entryways, as they can attract pests into the facility. Be sure to maintain an up-to-date map of bait stations and record activity at each station to determine the source of rodent pressure and target future treatments accordingly.
Prevent fruit flies by keeping employee break rooms clear of food remnants and tightly sealing garbage cans.
Prevent fruit flies by keeping employee break rooms clear of food remnants and tightly sealing garbage cans.

Reinforce Clean Conditions Inside

Once you set up an outside defense against pests, you can double down on your pest management efforts by taking a few proactive measures inside as well. The key to keeping pests from infesting your facility is removing incentives for them to go inside in the first place.

  • Inspect incoming shipments. When you are not receiving materials, keep loading bay doors closed—make sure the doors close securely so that pests cannot sneak under them. Inspect incoming raw materials, packaging and truck trailers for signs of infestation.
  • Reduce potential food sources inside your facility. Employee break rooms should be clear of any food remnants, and garbage cans with food and other waste need to be kept tightly sealed.
  • Monitor the plant floor. Sanitize drains and equipment with an organic cleaner to eliminate the residue that pests can feed on. With colder temperatures, pipes can break or crack, so ensure plumbing is also maintained properly to prevent leakage and property damage. Monitor for spills and clean them immediately, as pests only need a small amount of moisture to survive.

By putting proactive defenses into place, your facility can enjoy the winter seasons with a decreased likelihood of the appearance of unwanted visitors like rodents, ants, cockroaches, stored product pests and flies. Talk with your pest management professional about these steps and other tactics you can put in place to keep your facility safe against overwintering pests and relegate them to the cold.

Ron Harrison, Ph.D., Director of Technical Services, Orkin, LLC
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Make Employee Training a Team Effort in Your Pest Management Program

By Ron Harrison, Ph.D.
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Ron Harrison, Ph.D., Director of Technical Services, Orkin, LLC

Pest management plays a key role in food safety and product integrity, and ensuring such is a critical, facility-wide undertaking. The success of a pest management program can be the difference between acing a third-party audit and facing a plant shutdown. An effective program is not just a one-person job; it requires an ongoing team effort from a company’s pest management provider and all employees. As such, beyond selecting an effective pest management provider, it’s equally important to recruit employees to help enhance your efforts. After all, they are the eyes and ears of your facility, as they spend a lot more time there than your pest management provider.

Arming your employees with the right tools and pest control knowledge will set up your pest management program for success. The following steps outline how you can get your entire team involved in your company’s program.

Teach the what, where and how

Your employees can be the first responders to any pest problems, but only if they know what they should be looking for and where they should be looking. For that reason, it’s essential that they complete training on the specific pest pressures your property faces and the red flags that alert them to pest activity.

Many pest control providers offer complimentary employee training, so ask your pest management professional to conduct an on-site training session for your team. These training sessions should include not only information about the specific pest pressures on your property, but also the conducive conditions and pest hot spots that your employees can help control. Pest hot spots are the key areas inside and outside your building that pests target as entry or harborage points. These areas are in constant danger of being penetrated by pests and are areas that currently or have previously had pest issues. Areas with standing water, excessive condensation or improper drainage are just a few examples.

Your pest management professional can also teach your employees the key components of integrated pest management (IPM). Rather than reacting to pest issues, IPM takes a proactive approach through a combination of non-chemical solutions, relying on chemical treatments only as a last resort. Proper sanitation practices, ongoing property maintenance to exclude pests, and regular monitoring are paramount to a pest-free facility.

Training sessions are also a great way for your employees and provider to build a strong relationship so your team is more likely to proactively report any pest issues.

Keep the lines of communication open

An open, ongoing line of communication between management, employees and your pest management provider is also an important component of successful pest management programs. Regular communication helps ensure that your employees are kept in the loop on important pest control information and initiatives. Furthermore, an open line of communication will keep you thinking proactively about pest management, which can help reduce decisions that lead to reactive chemical treatments.

This open dialogue will also help build rapport with your employees so they are more comfortable talking about sensitive issues, including the potential for bringing pests into the facility from home. 

Know your role

Your pest management program will work best when everyone involved knows his or her role. Consider assigning each team member a specific pest management task based on his or her daily duties. For instance, employees involved in facility maintenance can monitor for small holes or gaps in the building façade and seal them immediately to help prevent pest entry. 

 

In case of a pest sighting

Sometimes no matter how effective your IPM program is, resilient pests can still find their way inside your facility. Further, pest activity may not only originate locally, but from other parts of the country throughout the supply chain, making it somewhat difficult to immediately pinpoint the pest issue. This means there is a chance for both live and dead pests to make their way into your product, which can pose a nationwide health and safety threats to consumers.

With this in mind, it’s important to have a plan in place should a pest be spotted. Establish a pest sighting protocol that identifies the steps to report a pest incident, including who should be notified. The following are a few examples of steps that should be included in a pest sighting protocol:

  • If possible, catch and show the pest to your pest management professional.
  • Record the pest activity in a pest sighting report, making note of when, where and how many pests were seen.
  • Work with your pest management professional to determine what is causing the issue and how to resolve it.

Continue the education

Your employees need continued education to help keep your property on the cutting edge of pest control. Many pest management providers offer educational resources that facilities can use as ongoing education, including tip sheets, sanitation and maintenance checklists, and seasonal pest management tips. Ask your pest management provider if they have resources you can share with your team. You may also consider having your pest management professional provide further training sessions on specific pest problems.

Pest control is most successful when a team effort is involved. Work with your pest management provider to get your employees up to speed on the pest management efforts at your facility and ensure they have the basic knowledge needed to play a role in keeping pests out.

Dr. Jim Fredericks, Chief Entomologist & Vice President of Technical and Regulatory Affairs, National Pest Management Association
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Why is Pest Management Critical to Food Manufacturing Operations

By Dr. Jim Fredericks
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Dr. Jim Fredericks, Chief Entomologist & Vice President of Technical and Regulatory Affairs, National Pest Management Association

Every manager of a food manufacturing plant knows that food safety cannot be compromised under any circumstances and that the entire process is dependent on a number of aspects working effectively, efficiently and in a healthy and safe manner. However, no process is foolproof and any breakdown in the manufacturing process could lead to contamination. Some of the most pervasive contaminants come as a result of insects, rodents and other pathogens finding their way into the plant. It is for this reason that pest management is critical to food manufacturing.

Depending on the type of food product and how it is processed, there are ample opportunities for pests to associate themselves into the food manufacturing life cycle – be it during the growth cycle, at harvest, within the mode of transportation, during material preparation and final processing.

Fortunately, today’s scientific equipment provides the ability to detect amounts of contaminated materials in a given finished product down to the nanogram and “zero” continues to get smaller and smaller with each advancement in chemical [contaminate] detection technology. However, as plant science and seed chemistry improve, so does yield production. With this production increase comes additional processes that create opportunity for pest threats to enter food-manufacturing operations. In order to maintain a safe and clean facility both the food manufacturing facility manager and pest management personnel must address each issue head on.

There are a number of factors that pose challenges to proper pest management in food facilities such as the time of operation [some pests prefer daytime, while others prefer nighttime], production cycles [season of harvest can denote degree of pest infestation], maintenance schedule [how often do lines or plants shut down for cleaning and up keep], delivery schedule and flow of raw materials [when and how they enter and leave] throughout the plant. The addition of other factors, like moisture levels and temperature extremes within the construction elements of the plant, can create ideal conditions for pest harborage and nesting areas.

The world is a smaller place today and food transportation can be accomplished by multiple sources; food products are now shared across borders and oceans in a much shorter time frame than before. Due to the potential introduction of a new pest species or plant disease, it is crucial that facilities and their pest management partners develop a common platform for risk assessment, analysis and preventive controls to achieve success. Having the ability, discipline and quality control processes in place to intercept or disrupt this potential hazard are extremely important. The pest management professional is a line of defense that supports the food manufactures by inspecting, performing audits, identifying and preventing, improving and correcting hazards or situations that could cause damage, contamination or illness.

The consequences of not taking pest management seriously can be devastating to a food manufacturing company – resulting in fines, production shutdowns, closures and even bankruptcy filings. Not to mention a tarnished reputation, shaken confidence and public scrutiny of the brand and finished product. Certain failures may even create a system wide product recall compounding the negative effects.

The words ‘and’, ‘team’, ‘partner’ and ‘critical’ to describe the approach of a pest management professional and food manufacturing facility management and are key in understanding the role each plays – one to cut the risks and the other to protect, both helping each other accomplish the desired level of food safety.

Being proactive about food safety, including pest management, is paramount in protecting life and health. In the food safety industry food manufacturers work with a lot of different standards, protocols and regulations, such as Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs), Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), and Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HAACP). The standards are risk-based in order to address the issues as risks to public health and food safety due to activities of pests.

FDA is trying to level the playing field on food safety with the implementation of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) – the biggest change to food safety laws since the 1930’s – helping to bring together the various practices and governing agencies under a common goal – preventing food borne illness with sustainable and accountable improvements in food safety using prevention based controls.

As part of FSMA compliance, the pest management professional must be an integrated member of the food safety team. Thorough knowledge of the plant’s quality programs, manufacturing practices, approved product lists and sanitation programs is critical to success. Both pest management professionals and food manufacturing operations managers should also be aware of new pest control products and application techniques to fully offer the facility the best pest management program possible.

In all food manufacturing facilities, the pest management professional and manufacturing operations facility manager should both be prepared to:

  1. Work together with open communication.
  2. Provide training to both sides, whereas the plant team trains the pest management professional on the facility and processes with expectations of the service agreed upon. The pest management professional trains the food manufacturing team on basic pest management and where this fits into their food safety program and HACCP system.
  3. Set written expectations of services, treatments as well as a process for proper documentation. Utilize an appropriate accountability system of mapping and numbering all points of inspection, monitoring and treatment.
  4. Both parties should remain open to conversation regarding new and innovative techniques and treatment options that utilize the preventive intent of FSMA in conjunction with the concept of Integrated Pest Management (IPM).

The bottom line is that foodborne illness is largely preventable if everyone can be held responsible and accountable at each step they own for controlling hazards that can cause illness.