The modern, synthetic insecticides, which began to emerge during the 1940s, revolutionised pest control. For years it was actually believed that all pest problems were now solved. People soon learned otherwise. Soon resistance to insecticides and adverse side effects were discovered. This has led to many of the “good old” methods now coming back into daylight and that there is constantly people working on developing new, non-toxic control methods.

Integration has become a key word in modern pest control (or “pest management” as some prefer to call it).
Integrated pest control is defined as a coordination and use of all available measures against a certain pest. Particularly forestry and agriculture uses integrated pest control. The idea that the control cannot be based exclusively on a single method (for example on poisons), but a system that includes multiple measures, has also proven to have some value of in the food industry.

The principles of fair control of pest problems in the food industry can be summarised in the following table:

• A. Inspection of the company and its environment
• 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