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You are here: Home / Food Pests / Prevention and Control, Integrated Control / A. Inspection of the company and its environment / The premises

The premises

Very few pests sit out in the open on walls, ceilings and floors during daytime. The ones that do are easy to spot, so it can still be worthwhile to start looking here. Perhaps you can spot moth larvae heading up towards a place where they can pupate. On walls it is possible to find moth pupae and sleeping moths. On humid walls, where microscopic fungi exist, mites, booklice and plaster beetles live. If the walls are very damp it is possible that you will find slugs, woodlice and springtails on them.

You will rarely find pests in the middle of the floor during working hours, but if there is a layer of dust on the floor or other horizontal surfaces, one should not neglect to look for tracks in the dust.

If there is no dust, one could make use of the so-called flour method. In the evening, by means of a sieve, sprinkle a thin layer of flour or talcum onto the floor. It is then possible, the next morning, to see if there are any tracks from various pests from booklice to rats. Light the surface up from the side with a flashlight. This makes the tracks easier to spot. The pest is then, where the track ends. If it ends blindly, it must be attributed to a flying pest.

Many pests are shady and prefer narrow, inaccessible locations where debris accumulates and where it is sufficiently moist, dark and warm. This is typical for cockroaches and silverfish. Cracks in base shoes, loose panels, pipe penetrations, floor grits, the bottom of hoists and cavities in machines are classic finding places for that kind of pest. Otherwise the best chance of detecting them is to suddenly turn on the lights in the room at night. A certain element of surprise is always of value when it comes to pests that prefer the dark. It is often possible to catch pests when you look under and behind furniture that can easily be moved.

To draw out pests from their hiding an aerosol with pyrethrin is suitable. Spray it into cracks in such a way that the pests get confused and flee – hopefully – out in the open where you can see them.

You can also create locations, which are easy to control, that is, a kind of traps. When you put a moist, slightly crumpled bag on the floor and lift it with a brisk take one or two days later, there is potential for a catch.
Many insects are attracted to certain situations of light. This also applies to species that usually are active at night. You can often find them in windows or on the windowsill. Light fixtures are also obvious places to look for these pests. Many lamps work as traps for flying insects.

Light traps that are inspected regularly will reveal whether there are moths in the room. Trays with water containing detergent catch the insects that inadvertently land on the surface.

For fast-running insects like cockroaches, sticky traps are ideal. It can be cartons which are applied slow-drying glue on the inside. The insects that dare go into them get stuck and one can thus obtain a measure of how many there are and where they go.

Regular inspections should of course include searching for mouse and rat holes and droppings. A lamp with ultraviolet light can sometimes detect rodent urine and hair. Fresh urine fluoresce with a blue-white colour, old urine turns yellow. Hair from mice and rats fluoresce with a blue-white colour.

Traps containing feed for mice and rats can reveal whether there are rodents on the premises.

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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