Embracing basic steps will enhance the success in controlling pests effectively.
While many facets come into play in food facility sanitation, being able to control pests effectively and efficiently remains central to the overall goal in producing high-quality and safe flour products.
In pest management, achieving such a goal requires a comprehensive approach and cohesive efforts involving key players in facility and management support.
What follows are some key elements in developing a pest management strategy that offers flexibility in making improvements when needed but still delivers useful and successful results.
Owning the Program
In some cases, pest management activities in food processing facilities often are viewed as being separate or independent of other maintenance duties. This isn’t a surprise, largely because pest management usually is contracted with an outside party.
Unfortunately, if successful results aren’t achieved in controlling pests, management often is tempted to start pointing the finger at the pest control operator (PCO).
Fundamentally, this is why it’s so important to understand that even if an outside party is contracted to handle pest control, the facility management still ultimately owns the program.
For this reason, a pest management program needs to be integrated into the facility’s current food safety and quality programs.
Procedures need to be developed that can help guide what important topics need to be discussed and handled by the PCO, designated facility employees, and even management.
Some items to consider:
• Establish who the PCO reports to about discussing pest observations and control measure recommendations.
• Determine how often (i.e., daily, weekly, monthly) should these discussions take place in order to review pest-level thresholds, pest activity trends, and other relevant observations to help facilitate better decisions, as well as to help foster continuous improvements in the facility’s pest control measures.
Working Together
Any contractor who performs work in a food processing facility also should undergo some orientation-type training that covers the facility’s food safety and quality programs, including Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs).
PCOs also need to understand the full scope of the facility’s operations.
For example, from raw materials to finished products, it is critical that PCOs understand the function of the processing equipment, the layout of the building and grounds, the support room, and other structures, such as grain storage.
PCOs should know the facility’s routine Master Sanitation Schedules (MSS) in context with supervising any visual inspections for pest activity, including pest monitoring and control equipment, such as traps, stations, glue boards, pheromones, and insect light traps (ILTs).
PCOs also need to follow the verification process covered under the facility’s self-inspection program.
Written PCO service observations and recommendations need to include references to the facility’s physical areas and equipment.
Facility employees who perform routine facility inspections need to understand the written pest management program and the types of monitoring equipment that PCOs use.
Facility inspections are important to verify and follow up on PCO activities and observations. Facility inspections also are necessary to verify the completion of any sanitation work done in and around the facility, including outside areas.
The PCO and the facility’s employees who are involved with pest inspection activities need to work together in a coherent way and strive to improve the process continually.
This article is based on a presentation by Tony Petersen, director-sanitation, Ardent Mills LLC, Denver, CO (402-521-0784/tony.petersen@ardentmills.com), given at the 2021 International Association of Operative Millers’ (IAOM) Conference and Expo, Aug. 29-Sept. 2, Little Rock, AR.
He is an associate certified entomologist (ACE) and a former member and chairperson of IAOM’s food protection committee.
Petersen has 40 years of experience in the grain, pest, baking, consumer foods, and milling industries and throughout his career has specialized in Integrated Pest Managment (IPM), sanitation, pesticide reductions, and bulk system issues.
This article contains an excerpt of some key highlights of comments related to this presentation, which have been edited for clarity and brevity.
Interfacing Protocols
Good communication between the PCO and facility operations’ team members is critical.
For example, before starting a routine checkup service, the PCO should meet with the designated facility employee to discuss the inspection game plan. If that designated employee is not available, an alternate backup should be provided.
During the check-in and before any service is performed, the pest control technician and facility employee should review the results from the previous inspection and discuss and verify any ongoing corrective actions and longer-term issues.
Those pest control items that have been handled and fully corrected also should be noted.
The designated facility employee then needs to examine findings uncovered from internal inspections, pest sightings, sanitation and maintenance activities, and consider general concerns from employees.
Both parties also should come to a consensus regarding what needs to be examined during a day’s service work and what needs to be accomplished.
During the checkout meeting after the service has been performed, the pest control technician and assigned employee should review the current service findings and discuss the actions taken.
The assigned facility employee also should record items that may need follow-up actions based on the MSS, preventive maintenance plan, and self-inspections.
Good Use of Data
PCOs might use different mediums to document their service work, the monitoring of pest activity, observations, and recommendations.
This might be a basic handwritten service report or a computerized report.
Either way, the information recorded in the reports won’t amount to much, unless it results in corrective actions being taken.
In most cases, PCOs utilize a standard format that offers some flexibility but still meets specific requirements for meaningful documentation.
The PCO should tailor the report’s composition so that it meets the needs of the facility.
In the end, both parties (i.e., the PCO and facility) need to agree on what type of reporting and data format to use.
In addition, acceptable threshold levels need to be established for the type of pest(s) that pose problems in a facility.
In some cases, those threshold levels may be zero. In other cases, some flexibility may be warranted on threshold levels, especially when a facility’s pest and service data has been showing positive trends in controlling a targeted pest.
This must be agreed upon by the PCO and facility management, and both parties must understand the overall effect when set threshold levels are exceeded and agree on how to respond with corrective actions.
Fundamentally, this is why it’s so important to understand that even if an outside party is contracted to handle pest control, the facility management still ultimately owns the program.
The Review Process
It is important to understand how the frequency of reviews from upper management, the PCO, and the facility’s middle management tie together.
Some recommendations to consider:
• Monthly reviews should be conducted with the pest technician supervisor, possibly after an inspection by the PCO supervisor and facility quality and sanitation employees. This review should include relevant trends, corrective actions, and facility issues.
• Quarterly reviews need to be performed with the PCO, facility, and management. This type of review normally scopes out a wider view of trends and actions and what support may be needed from both parties.
• Annual reviews need to be part of the PCO audit/inspection of the facility to determine contract updates for renewal. These types of audits and inspections are usually conducted by the PCO and someone trained in sanitation and/or entomology and independent of the daily scope of the service work. An outside and objective set of eyes is an important tool for this process.
Encouraging Good Communication
Good communication is pivotal in making meaningful decisions.
It’s important to realize that the communication process must be consistent all the way from the processing floor level to the operations staff and up to senior leadership.
Important communication links among the vested parties within the facility may break down, if key information from monitoring equipment and general observations is omitted.
In pest control, no minor details uncovered in the monitoring process and from general observations should be considered insignificant.
All those involved in pest control need to stay vigilant about keeping a sharp eye open for identifying signs of sanitation issues in the facility and its equipment which may harbor insects.
No matter what the pest problem may be, it is recommended to assemble a small team to determine the root cause of a problem and to agree on what corrective actions are needed.
Guidelines that encompass the input from those involved with pest control should be established to aid in that corrective action decision process.
The Integrated Pest Management (IPM) program should be viewed as a continuous improvement process.
Those involved directly with pest control should be asking themselves: “Are we better today in controlling pests than we were yesterday?” “Is there a pest management plan in place that will lead to better results right away?”
In addition, goals and objectives must be established and discussed at management reviews. Action plans need to be developed if the pest control goals and objectives are not being met.
Summary
There is a difference between performing an audit and an inspection.
Normally, an audit represents a longer time commitment than an inspection in reviewing and analyzing documentation and requires less time walking through the facility to verify aspects of the documentation.
Inspections are more akin to getting the hands dirty in scraping, crawling, climbing, and opening up certain equipment in search of insects and then following up with the proper documentation about the inspection and observations.
Successful IPM programs must have a solid self-inspection program that complements and verifies the program. Facility employees need to drive the program to ensure success.
Successful IPM programs must have a solid self-inspection program that complements and verifies the program.
PCOs must play a role by being physically involved, providing input and training as part of their overall service.
Facility employees and PCOs should embrace this involvement and strive to keep making improvements in pest control as an ongoing goal. Behind every successful pest control program is usually a management culture that encourages the training of employees to perform inspections.
In following best practices, pest control also should involve all departments, quality control, production, warehouse, maintenance, and office staff, including hourly employees and senior management.
When many of these elements come together and are put into practice, a facility is more likely to achieve the chief goal of creating a safer and healthier workplace that provides great high-quality products.
Karl Ohm, contributing editor
Editor’s note: For further reading, see the following articles:
• “Temp-Air, Inc. (Thermal Remediation),” Third Quarter 2015 Milling Journal, pages 40-43.
• “Heat Treatment Update,” Fourth Quarter 2014 Milling Journal, pages 58-61.
• “Coping with Phosphine Resistance,” pages 18-22, and “Aerosol Insecticide Efficacy,” pages 36-39, Third Quarter 2014 Milling Journal.
• “Flour Beetle Control,” Second Quarter 2014 Milling Journal, pages 42-45.
• “Effectiveness of Deltamethrin,” First Quarter 2014 Milling Journal, pages 52-56.
• “Insect Management,” Third Quarter 2013 Milling Journal, pages 45-47.
