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Practical information

Literature

There is extensive literature available on food pests. Scientific articles deal with specific parts of pest problems. Some of them are available on the Internet and you can also see pictures and descriptions of each pest there. You can use the animals’ Latin names as keywords.

Determination books with detailed keys are available. The authors of this book have had the pleasure of using Professor Herbert Weidner’s keys, which exists in several versions.

The latest (7th) edition is: Weidner, Herbert & Udo Sellenschlo (2010). Vorratsschädlinge und Hausungeziefer: Bestimmungstabellen für Mitteleuropa. Spektrum Akademischer Verlag, Heidelberg. (350 pages).

For mites in food you can use the book: Hughes, A. M. (1976). Mites of stored food and houses. Min. Agr. Fish. Food. Tech. Bull. 9, London. (400 pages). (Key for the determination of mites. Difficult.).

Your local authorities can provide information and sometimes also provide help when it comes to pests.

Extermination with poison

You can exterminate with poison yourself or you can leave the task to an exterminator. Make sure to check the qualifications of any exterminator, as there are different demands to the qualifications required to take this title in different countries. The addresses of the persons or companies which carry out commercial pest control can be found on the Internet under the search term pest control. Some forms of pest control may only be made by persons and firms that have special licenses to perform such extermination. When you are dealing with poisons: read the label (which can also be viewed on the website) or contact the authorities.

International trade

There are general guidelines and rules to import of animals, insects and plants. They are primarily designed to prevent pests in plants, but some of the species mentioned in this book are also mentioned in the so-called quarantine lists. Quarantine lists from virtually every country in the world can be found in different databases on the Internet. For example the PQR database from EPPO, which is freely downloadable. Species listed on quarantine lists shall not be imported into that country. The so-called list II species are also undesirable, but may be introduced by agreements of extermination etc. There may in fact be a huge gap between official requirements and what is done in practice. The trend is towards more stringent requirements as import countries may require more than the official requirements, never less. As evidence that the requirements for specific food pests are met, some countries require that the product is accompanied by an international phytosanitary certificate.

Allergies

One can examine whether food pests mentioned in this book can cause allergic reactions to people. This is done on the Internet at “Allergome – A Database of Allergenic Molecules,” on www.allergome.net. Here it is possible to search the Latin pest names.

Colouration of small, pale animals

It is not very difficult to make decent microscope preparations for examination under a high resolution light microscope. You will need a colouration, called Hoyer’s medium. It is prepared according to the following recipe:

  • 30 g Arabic gum
  • 50 ml distilled water
  • 20 ml glycerol
  • 200 g chloral hydrate

Dissolve the gum in the distilled water. It may take several days, but moderate heating and a magnetic stirrer speed up the process. Let it happen in a flask with a stopper so the water does not evaporate along the way. Next, the last two ingredients are added and when the chloral hydrate is dissolved you filter the fluid through a tea strainer to remove the coarsest impurities from the Arabic gum lumps. The mixture should be stored in a bottle with a stopper (not rubber or cork) and is stable for many years. The bottle should be labelled with “corrosive” and “toxic”.

Whenever you make a preparation, start by placing a drop of the mixture on a glass slide. The tip of a needle is dipped into the drop and is moved so that the insect is affected by the tip and adheres thereto. The insect is placed in the drop and a glass slide is placed on top. You can heat gently on the preparation to remove any air bubbles. The preparation can now be examined under a high resolution microscope, but it is better to allow it to stay a few days if necessary at 50 ° C, which can kill any insects. If you want to store the preparation in a box, it should be surrounded with clear nail polish.

Insects in water or glycerine can be applied directly to Hoyer’s medium, but insects in alcohol or lactic acid should be washed first. A drop of alcohol in the mixture causes the material to escape to the sides, and lactic acid precipitates in decorative shapes, which complicates any observations. Preparations with Hoyer’s medium are, as far as we know, unlimited durable and good to use when insects must be determined properly with a high resolution microscope – especially when using phase contrast.

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

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