Inspection and Documentation for Tracking Pests at Food Processing Facilities

Here are a few of the best options:

• Rodent traps: Rodents can chew through wrapping or packaging and get to your products, so it’s best to cut them off before they ever have the chance. Using traps around your facility can help stop these pests in their tracks. Traps can be single-catch (one rodent) or multi-catch (several rodents), depending on the situation.
• Bait stations: As a first line of defense, bait stations should be placed outside a facility to help ensure that rodents never make it inside. Although rodenticide labeling may allow for bait placement inside a building, this use pattern is not a good practice inside a food plant due to the potential translocation of the bait by foraging rodents. Monitoring bait station activity is useful for determining how prevalent outside rodent pressure is. This allows you and your pest management professional to implement additional measures as needed.
• Insect Light Traps (ILTs): Flying insects can be challenging pests, and you don’t want them near your products. ILTs utilize a light source to draw in these winged pests to a sticky glue board or electrocution grid. These traps serve two purposes: helping to reduce flying insects in your facility and providing you with insights as to where they are more prevalent. Knowing where flying insects are likely to occur can help you prevent them in the future.
• Pheromone traps: These traps are a great way to monitor for specific stored-product pests—like beetles and moths, which can be a primary insect concern for some food processing and manufacturing facilities. Pheromone traps help indicate the presence of these pests early, which can be the difference between a small issue and a large-scale infestation.

While the tools outlined above are useful for reducing pest populations and remaining aware of pest pressures, it’s important to remember that sanitation procedures should be in place at all times. This eliminates harborage and helps reduce buildup of organic materials and water, which are attractive to pests. And because it’s difficult to remove all attractants from your building through sanitation alone, monitoring also helps provide a better picture of what’s happening.

Inspection and Documentation

We know that it’s key to monitor what’s already in and around your facility, but it’s also crucial

to thoroughly inspect everything arriving as well. This means taking product samples off trucks and railcars and inspecting incoming shipments of materials. If you’re stopping pests early, well before they even get inside, you’ll find that it’s far easier to keep them from getting a foothold. Proper inspection is one of the best proactive ways to fortify your defenses against pests.

Use a checklist when performing inspections of inbound items at the facility and don’t forget to inspect items your contractors bring in as usual. If you do find pests during the inspection, be sure to collect samples, document how many you find, what kind they are and notify the supplier of the issue. Your pest management professional can assist with proper identification of the pest and any additional next steps needed.

And finally, it is very important to document what happens at your facility. Recording instances of pest activity is essential. It’s best to keep a strong documentation system that includes the following:

• An overarching food safety and sanitation plan for your facility.
• A complete summary of your supply chain program, including suppliers and other partners, types of ingredients, and receiving records for incoming shipments.
• Detailed inspection and monitoring records, including annual assessments, regular facility inspections, device monitoring records, trending information, inbound shipment inspections, and pest-sighting logs.

Keeping these documents readily available can help efficiently address any issues. Being able to act quickly, especially in the food processing industry, is of primary importance when it comes to preventing pest problems.

Communicating with Partners

Stopping pests takes a strong team. Communicate regularly with your supply chain partners, and ensure your businesses are on the same page when it comes to monitoring and documentation. If every party involved maintains the procedures needed to trace problems back to their origin, you can better address food safety concerns and help eliminate pest issues in the future.