• Pests in House and Home
  • Bedbugs – Bites, Stings and Itches
  • Food Pests

Pestium.uk

Europe's largest scientific bug site

Danish flagUnion JackNorwedish flagSwedish flagGerman flag
You are here: Home / Food Pests / Introduction / An old problem

An old problem

Mankind is said to have begun cultivating the land 10.000 years ago. With agriculture followed a large production of food and a stable food supply, because people were able to store grain from harvest to harvest. Storing grain in larger amounts in one location meant new and improved possibilities for animals which natural habitats and food supply had up until now been food spill from birds’ nests and rodents’ winter supplies. These are merely tiny versions of human made storages.

Remains of Egyptian burial gifts prove that even 5.000 years ago people dealt with the exact same types of insects that we deal with today in modern food storages. That includes, among other species, granary weevils, confused flour beetles, drugstore beetles, lesser grain borers, saw-toothed grain beetles, spider beetles and cigarette beetles. Our ancestors might have acted casually having beetles in their food, but they too had to take precautionary measures to ensure their own share of the food.

In ancient Egypt and the Roman Empire, storage methods which prevented both fungus and pests were used. Grain was put into pits in the ground. The grain produced carbon dioxide which absorbed the oxygen and thereby created the effect we today know from gastight silos. As physical protection against insects the grain was mixed with ash, salt or even road dust. Sharp particles from the ash, salt or dust would then break the insect skin, and the insects would eventually die due to loss of water through the broken skin. Chemical means were also taken into use. For example the extract from olive kernels, hay and sagewort were used to treat storage units and their immediate surroundings. The efficiency of these remedies has no doubt been poor compared to modern insecticides.

In medieval Europe, corn dealers had gained an understanding of the need for low temperatures and adequate airing of the grain.
The grain storages then had cooling and ventilation systems in the form of vents in ceilings. Literature tells us tales of storages with 400 years old grain, and of Emperor Karl the fifth in year 1540 in Nuremberg who was served bread that was supposedly baked from 118 years old flour.

Between the years 1120 to 1733 pests were often the subject to ecclesiastical and secular trials. The insects were charged and sentenced exclusion from the ecclesiastical community as well as they were sometimes fined for their actions. One of the last known trials of the sort took place on the Danish island Als in the year 1711. The citizens on Als took out summons against both rats and mice. The pests would then be appointed defence attorneys and so the law took its course. As one could expect the pests lost and was then sentenced to disappear into the sea within fifteen days. It is said that after that episode the local fishermen found many dead rats when they came to check on their pound nets. The grounds for these trials were obvious for people back then. They sought justice and turned to that authority that could give them justice in situations where nothing else could.

Food Pests
Introduction
An old problem
Competition for food
Pests can ruin stored goods
Why not just eat the insects
Some insects are unhealthy to eat
Allergy to pests
Transmission of infectious diseases
Where do pests come from?
Synanthrope species
(1) The house dust mite and the sugar mite
(2) The firebrat and the silverfish
(3) The German cockroach and the forest cockroach
(4) The rust-red flour beetle and the confused flour beetle
(5) The merchant grain beetle and the saw-toothed grain beetle
(6) The cigarette beetle and the drugstore beetle
(7) The rice weevil and the granary weevil
(8) The pharaoh ant and the common black ant
History of the dark flour beetle
Pests in bird’s nests
Mould fauna
The Look and Behaviour of pests
Insect appearance
Internal
Insect development
Insect senses
Behaviour
Water and Moisture
Temperature
What insects live off and live in
The Air
Mites
Bug Indentification
The various species
Mites
The flour mite
The sugar mite
The common house mite
The Lardoglyphus zacheri
The prune mite
The cheese mite
The house dust mite
The Cheyletus eruditus
Silverfish
The Silverfish
The firebrat
Cockroaches
The German cockroach
The Oriental cockroach
The brown-banded cockroach
The American cockroach
The extermination of cockroaches
Crickets
Earwigs
Booklice
Butterflies
The Mediterranean flour moth
The warehouse moth
Tropical warehouse moth
The brown house moth
The Indian meal moth
Grain beetles
The saw-toothed grain beetle
The merchant grain beetle
The rust-red grain beetle
Flour beetles
The yellow mealworm beetle
The lesser mealworm beetle
The dark flour beetle
The confused flour beetle
The rust-red flour beetle
The bolting cloth beetle
Furniture beetles
The drugstore beetle
The cigarette beetle
Bostrychidae
The lesser grain borer
True weevils snout beetles
The granary weevil
The rice weevil
The corn weevil
Bean weevils
The common bean weevil
The coffee bean weevil
Skin beetles
The bacon beetle
The dermestid beetle
The leather beetle
The khapra beetle
The reesa vespulae
Chequered beetles
The red-legged ham beetle
The red-breasted copra beetle
The black-legged ham beetle
Spider beetles
The Australian spider beetle
The white-marked spider beetle
The golden spider beetle
The smooth spider beetle
Plaster beetles
Flies
The common house fly
The lesser house fly
Blowflies
The grey flesh fly
The cheese skipper
Fruit flies
Hymenoptera
The common black ant
The pharaoh ant
Wasps
Birds
The domestic pigeon
The house sparrow
Prevention and control of birds
Rodents
The house mouse
The yellow-necked mouse
Mouse prevention
Mouse control
The brown rat
The black rat
Rat prevention
Rat control
Imaginary pests
Niches of food pests
A: The Waste Niche
B: The seed niche
C: The dead plant niche
D: The sugary excrement niche
E: The carrion niche
Prevention and Control, Integrated Control
A. Inspection of the company and its environment
The environment
The premises
Examination of raw materials and food on site
Sampling
Laboratory methods for detection of pests in food
B. Statement of the problem
C. Prevention and control
1. Proper organisation of the company
2. Proper operation
3. Exclusion, proofing buildings
4. Packaging
5. Non-chemical control measures
6. Chemical control
D: Effective monitoring and communication
Practical information
Index

Copyright © 2021 · The publisher Pestium Inc. · Europe's largest knowledge database on pests.
Copying and reproduction without permission is prosecuted without prior notice