The Redlegged Ham Beetle Emerges as a Threat to the Pet Food Industry

The lesser-known redlegged ham beetle, also known as the copra beetle or ham beetle, can cause big issues in the pet food industry. These pests prefer to dwell in meat products with a high grease or fat content, making pet food highly favorable to the beetles.

The beetles are known to feed on—you guessed it—ham, but also other potential pet food ingredients such as dried bone meal, dried egg, and cured and dried meats. In the right conditions, females can lay up to 3,000 eggs, depositing them within the cracks and crevices of food items and surrounding areas. Food manufacturers are facing a growing problem as the prevalence of these metallic blue-green pests continues to increase. Without sufficient pest management strategies, a puppy’s dinner may double as a beetle’s habitat.

Not originally native to the United States, the redlegged ham beetle has recently been identified as a serious concern to food manufacturers. As the presence of this beetle is likely to continue to increase in the coming years, pest control providers are at the forefront in identifying, managing, and partnering with manufacturers to stay ahead of the curve.

Help Protect Your Facility

This pest can have serious financial implications in food warehouses and stores if infested items are transported from manufacturing plants. If you notice the following signs around your facility, you may be facing a redlegged ham beetle issue:

• Damage to food items and packaging;
• Live larva and adults; or
• White silken cocoons on infested food items.

So, how does a food manufacturing and handling facility help protect itself against these beetles? By implementing an integrated pest management (IPM) program.

Most food-handling businesses likely have heard of IPM programs, especially if they are regularly audited by food quality and safety inspectors. These programs are implemented by qualified pest control technicians in collaboration with a business’s food safety and quality assurance team to help deter pest activity and prevent infestations. IPM programs focus on preventive techniques such as exclusion, sanitation, and maintenance to keep pests where they belong—outside of your business. When it comes to the increasing threat of the redlegged ham beetle, there are a variety of techniques that can help keep these pests at bay:

• Proper inspection of products is necessary to check for introductions, infestations, and potential harborage areas or areas that require cleaning;
• Sanitation is the most effective way a manufacturer can keep their products safe and untouched, so having a routine cleaning schedule of any cracks and crevices that may contain grease that draws beetles will help prevent introduced beetles from settling in;
• Proper storage of products including protective packaging and product rotation will help to preserve the integrity of the product;
• Exclusion measures such as installing screens on windows and ensuring doors shut properly and are equipped with door sweeps help keep products from being exposed to beetles; and
• Insect pheromone monitoring devices, which are also available to help with early detection and management of pests like redlegged ham beetles.

Infestation Prevention

In case of an infestation, it is important to quickly remove any infested items and ensure un-infested items are stored properly in protective packaging. Treating cracks and crevices near food resources with cleaning agents, probiotic treatments, and/or other special treatments are all ways to immediately reduce populations and help ensure they don’t have easy places to return to. In cases of extreme infestation, more aggressive pest treatments such as fumigation may be necessary.

Investing in a staff training plan to teach your employees how to spot signs of pests is also an effective way to prevent infestation on the front end. Your employees—mainly those on the production floor of your facility—see and hear more than you might know, which makes them invaluable in helping to identify pest issues. Trained staff, paired with an effective monitoring program, helps ensure that beetles are found quickly. Most pest control providers offer complimentary staff training, making this tactic cost-effective for your operations. Once your staff know the types of pests that frequent your facility, persistent hot spots, and the process for reporting activity, they’ll be able to help you address pest issues quickly and effectively.