Here’s food for thought: According to the USDA, as much as 10 percent of food produced in the United States is contaminated or consumed by stored product pests. Imagine all the failed audits, millions of dollars in lost sales, and reputation hits this leads to. It’s enough to make any food safety manager lose their appetite.
There’s no denying that insects like beetles and moths are drawn to the grains and flour in your facility. But don’t throw in the towel just yet – infestations are entirely preventable when you arm yourself with knowledge.
Keep reading to understand the stored product pests in food processing to watch out for and how to make it tough for them to reach your products. Sometimes, you may need to address the presence of one of these pests in your facility. And we can talk about that, too.
Food Processing: Stored Product Pests
What Are the Top 5 Stored Product Pests?
The stored product beetles and moths below crave different foods, environments, and temperatures. Knowing what makes them tick can help you deprive them of the things they want in your facility.
1. Indianmeal Moths
You’ll know them by their gray wings with rusty brown wing tips. These moths are especially fond of flour, cereal, crackers, and nuts. An infestation of Indianmeal moths changes the flavor of the food they’re living in and feasting on, potentially leading to tons of product and money down the proverbial drain.
2. Red Flour Beetles:
This shiny, reddish-brown beetle is flat, oval-shaped, and only 1/8 inch long. These pests prefer finely ground or broken starches like flour and meal and can easily infest any fresh grains placed in a bin that has not been well cleaned. A red flour beetle infestation outright ruins product, leaving dead beetles, cast skins, fecal pellets, and a nauseating odor – these are nothing you want coming in or out of your facility.
3. Angoumois grain moths:
You can tell these yellowish moths by the narrow projection extending from the tip of their wing. Their larvae develop inside corn and wheat kernels, making it difficult to spot issues with your eyes alone. Cool temperatures make them more active, so to these invaders, winter is the best season to take advantage of your facility’s stored products.
4. Warehouse beetles:
This oval-shaped, black or brown beetle with hair-covered outer wings measures in at 1/8 of an inch. Molted skins and yellow-white larvae are tell-tale signs warehouse beetles may be among your products. They are drawn to flour, feed, dried milk, and other stored grains.
5. Psocids:
These tiny pests, just 1/16 of an inch, also go by “book lice.” To the eye, they’re a little more than whitish or yellowish specks. Moisture acts as a magnet to them, so any food kept in or near damp, humid conditions is at risk of infestation. They’ve been known to find a home amid bagged products, animal feed, grains, oats, cereals, and dried fruits.
4 Tips to Help Keep Stored Product Pests Out of Your Business
Let pests get the upper hand in your facility? Not on your watch. The best way to protect your products and customers is to have a robust Food Safety Plan in place that includes Integrated Pest Management (IPM) strategies, and if needed fumigation in one or more of the steps. And don’t forget to include your employees in the strategy to ensure everyone’s following the plan. In addition to that, there are plenty of things you can do outside of the IPM plan that can help keep your food processing facility less attractive to stored product pests. Prepare your food processing facility by incorporating the following four tips:
1. Maintain a clean production environment:
Food and moisture both serve as attractants to pests. Clean up any spilled product as soon as possible, wherever it happens – be it in production, packaging areas, or storage areas.
2. Seal all potential pest entry points:
If stored product pests can’t get inside your facility, then your products will be better protected. This means sealing off access points, keeping doors and windows closed, and installing door sweeps. It also means inspecting incoming shipments for signs of pests or pest activity.
3. Elevate monitoring to detect early signs of infestation:
Unfortunately, it can be difficult to spot tiny, stored product pests among grains with your eyes alone: some of these pests measure in at a mere 1/8 inch. Often the first sign is damage on boxes and containers, but by the time you see that, you’ve got a real problem on your hands.
4. Ensure products are stored properly:
Product rotation is key – make sure you’re following the “First In, First Out” rule so inventory doesn’t sit for too long. Choose containers that can be tightly sealed and, stored in areas you can keep cool.
So, what are your options? Work with a trusted pest management partner to detect stored product pests early for accurate and fast control. And, when needed, keep a trusted fumigation partner close to help maintain a pest-free environment.
You know the saying, document it or it didn’t happen: Pest management counts for up to 20% of your facility’s food safety audit score, so you must be able to demonstrate all the work you and your team are putting into prevention.
You spot something while monitoring for pests. What should you do?
As you’ve seen, stored product pests are small and difficult to detect. So, if you’ve seen that there’s an issue, you’ve taken the first step toward winning your battle. The earlier you’re able to detect that there’s a problem, the better for tackling an infestation. Here’s what to do next.
1. Identify The Pest
Refer to our top 5 stored product pests above and start trying to make a match. There are tools out there that can help you if you’re feeling stumped, and of course a trusted service partner with a trained eye is key.
2. Target Your Efforts
Understanding where the activity is at is key. There may be no need to treat an entire building or floor if the issue is isolated to a small area or single room. Keep in mind you should quarantine any product that has shown evidence of pest activity immediately.
3. Work With A Seasoned Pest Management Provider.
Choose a partner who knows the food processing industry and can work with you to develop and implement the methods and strategies that best address the pest management challenges at your facility.
Stored product pests are elusive. Now that you know more about what to look for, and how to prevent pests, remember the importance of documenting your efforts. And, of course, bring in a trusted partner to help.
