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Chapter 13 Pest Control...........................................................................................
The intent of this chapter is not to train
pest control experts but to provide the sani-
tarian additional understanding of the
impact of insects, rodents, and birds on the
contamination of food supplies. The purpose
of discussing pest control is to acquaint read-
ers with the major pests that can contaminate
the food supply and how the presence of
these unwanted guests can be controlled. The
food sanitarian has to contend with relatively
few species of insects, rodents, and birds, but
those encountered can cost the food industry
billions of dollars every year. During the past
century, an estimated 10 million people died
from rodent-borne diseases (Siddiqi, 2001).
An effective program against pests begins
with a basic understanding of the character-
istics of pest contamination sources and a
comprehensive knowledge of safe and effec-
tive extermination and control procedures. If
a pest control operator is not used to control
pests, one or more employees (depending on
the size of the organization) should be
trained and made responsible for maintain-
ing effective pest control.
Thorough housekeeping is an effective
practice in ridding the premises of pests. A
tidy operation facilitates the extermination
of pests within the building(s) and compli-
cates entry of pests from the outside. In
addition to more difficult entry, pests have
more difficulty finding suitable shelter where
they can thrive and reproduce. Elimination
of shelters, rubbish, decaying material, dis-
carded supplies, and equipment will discour-
age the presence of insects and rodents. Pests
may be found in enclosed areas under
shelves, platforms, chutes, and ducts, espe-
cially if debris is allowed to accumulate in
these areas. The same is true for breaks in
walls and insulation. Discussion of pests and
their control will follow.Insect infestation
Arthropod pests are projected to cause
post-harvest losses between 8 and 25% in
developed countries and 70 to 75% in devel-
oping countries. These losses are attributable
to pest consumption and contamination.Cockroaches
The most common pests among food pro-
cessing plants and foodservice facilities
throughout the world are the cockroaches.
Control of these pests is essential because they
carry and spread various disease organisms.