Pest control is an essential part of Good Manufacturing Practice in food processing from a hygiene, economic and regulatory viewpoint. Pests can carry a wide range of disease-causing organisms, including bacteria, viruses, protozoa, and helminths that can cause harm to consumers and staff of businesses processing and handling food. Various methods are undertaken and services are provided by pest control company Dubai.
Financial threat
Not taking adequate measures to prevent and control pests can lead to substantial financial costs to the business from stock and product loss, product recall, loss of reputation, and legal action that could ultimately cause the closure of the business.
Threat from the supply chain
Pests can be brought into the food processing facility through the supply chain, in the ingredients or packaging, and the facility itself will attract pests through food odors and lighting. The buildings provide shelter, warmth, food, water, and safety from predators, which are ideal conditions for proliferation unless appropriate action is taken.
The Role of Integrated Pest Management
Pest control company Dubai implemented an Integrated Pest Management program. This has three basic steps: inspection, identification, and treatment but is a complex process that requires specialist expertise to implement to achieve accredited food standards and comply with legislation.
Top pest concerns for food processors
The range of pests found in food processing plants will vary according to climate, geography, and food ingredients processed, but the most common ones are beetles, moths, rodents, cockroaches, and flies.
Stored product insects
Stored product insects (SPIs) are a generic term that covers beetles, weevils, moths, and mites (which are actually arachnids) infesting food in storage anywhere in the food chain from the farm to the kitchen. Stored product pests are most likely to be in a food ingredient on delivery to a processing factory or a processed food product when stored for a long time.
Most dried food products are susceptible to pests, including cereal products, seeds, nuts, dried fruit, spices, powdered milk, tea, and preserved meats.
All stages of the pest can be present simultaneously, egg, larva, pupa, and adult.
In packaging
They can also enter packaging made of paper, cardboard, plastic, cellophane, and foil. The entrance holes of some insects are smaller than can be seen by the human eye, so there may be no visible damage to packaging containing pests.
Insects and mites may only consume a small quantity of food but can contaminate large quantities through physical damage, feces, cocoons, etc and the introduction of microorganisms that cause further degradation, making food unfit or unacceptable for human consumption.
The pest activity in raw product ingredients can also change their physical and chemical properties, causing them to cake during processing which can halt production lines and damage machinery.
The cost of stored product insects
The Rentokil research found high percentages of companies affected by direct costs and delays caused by SPIs:
raw material contamination leading to replacement cost (37%);
raw ingredient contamination leading to replacement cost (45%);
finished goods damage leading to replacement costs (38%);
product delays and additional treatment (30%);
fines or closure (10%).
Rodents
The ship rat, which used to be more common, is generally confined to some port areas. Rats and mice are attracted by food supplies and do not venture far from their shelter or nesting sites, so in a large facility will nest close to accessible food stores. Rats and mice are capable of a rapid increase in population given an abundant food supply, due to the number of litters they are capable of producing and the time to maturity, shelter from predators, and benign environmental conditions inside a building.
Cockroaches
They cause particular problems for food processing because of their size (giving them the ability to hide in small places), their varied diet, rapid reproduction, and the diseases they can carry.
Measures to control pests
A number of treatments are provided by the pest control company Dubai for cockroaches, including sprays, aerosols, dust, and bait. In a food processing facility, the insecticides used must be permitted for use by the relevant authority and will require competent, trained personnel to apply them. Rentokil uses chemical-free control methods suitable for sensitive business environments and Insect Monitor Units to detect signs of activity