Warehouse Prerequisite Program-Pest control program

Pest control is very vital in warehouses that handle food products and related products as any form of infestation not only jeopardizes food safety but also portrays a bad image to the clients and turns away potential ones. As a result of these negative effects of pest infestation, it's, therefore, the responsibility of the warehouse management to put in place pest control measures.

Before diving into the dos and don’ts of the pest control program, let us get to know a bit about the common warehouse pests. By definition, a Pest is any animal or plant harmful to humans and interferes with their activities and desires. In the context of warehouses, pests are animals, not plants, and the human desire is a safe food or food-related product that is not contaminated by any means and cannot lead to adverse health complications such as illness.

Warehouse pests are broadly categorized into the following;

Insects
Rodents
Birds

To control pests, one should know something about their natural behavior, habitats, and feeding pattern. Well, the warehouse management can decide to hire a pest management professional or company, but still, it has to train its staff on how to avoid pest infestation and how to spot any signs of pest presence in their area of work. This enables swift action from the management upon receiving pest sighting reports from the warehouse staff. Let us look at each of the three categories starting with;

Birds

Most birds are attracted to the warehouse because of their high-exposed roof girders or beams: Birds naturally prefer nesting and roosting in areas high above the ground to hide away from a predator. This behavior poses food safety risks in several ways; loose nest materials and bird droppings are a source of foreign bodies that are potential contaminants to the food products. As a matter of experience, I am quite sure you wouldn’t buy any food product items with bird droppings on its packaging. Therefore, the warehouse pest birds strategy should be directed towards first and foremost preventing birds from entering the premises. Again, from my own experience, ejecting a bird from the warehouse is a very tiresome and frustrating job even for a Pest management professional.

Control of pest birds

Block all opening into the warehouses. In the case of ventilation, the warehouse management should put up screens or nets that act as shields preventing birds from accessing the premises. For the main exits like the loading and receiving docks, the warehouse management can choose to use vinyl strip curtains that bar birds from entering while allowing normal activities like loading and receiving to continue. Perhaps the most obvious control of pest birds is the elimination of their would-be habitats, in this case, the exposed roof girders. These can be covered, or controversially spiked. Well, I am referring to it as controversial because it could infringe on animal rights.

Rodent

When you speak of rodents, what comes to most people's minds are rats and mice. Indeed, those are the most common rodents. Rodents are known to live in close association with humans, but this association comes with a lot of economic losses to businesses like warehouses, especially those units with products that attract rodents. Furthermore, rodents are vectors of several human diseases, thus making them of great interest to food safety (diseases are mostly in their urine and feces). Because of their high reproductive rate, rodents can exponentially increase in number in a short period. Therefore, it is highly required that warehouse management puts in place measures that alleviate a rodent inversion of the storage facility. Like it was the case for birds to control rodents, the warehouse management has to know their natural behavior.

The behavior of rodents.

Rodents like rats enter warehouses looking for three things; food, water, and shelter (from harsh weather like winter), and warehouses handling food products provide the ideal environment. In places where climatic conditions like winter are less common, rats seek out warehouses for the remaining two factors (food and water). Different rodent species inhabit specific parts of the warehouse, such as the roof rats (Rattus rattus) that prefer the roof parts. Therefore, preventing access of pests to the warehouse is a top priority of the facility pest control program.

There are two types of rodent traps commonly used in warehouses; the outside traps and the indoor traps. The outside traps are aligned at a specific distance around the building and must be set up in such a way that they are parallel to the wall.

The warehouse management must direct more emphasis must towards preventing rodents from ever entering the facility by placing rodent/bait station at the exit and entry points both inside and outside the facility.

Measure for controlling rodents

These measures include the following;

Staff training
Rodent proof entrances and exits
Regular check-ups
Timely servicing of rodent traps
Proper housekeeping

Note; please use rodent traps approved for use in food product handling facilities.

Insects

Insects pests like cockroaches are indicators of poor hygiene, poor sanitation, and a failing warehouse pest control program. Any sight of cockroaches calls for prompt investigation or root cause analysis, action to determine the source and extermination of the population.

You may be wondering why I have chosen to dwell on cockroaches and not any other insects. Well, other insects mostly nuisance pests without any implication to human healthy and limited or no effect on food safety except cockroaches and a few others.

Anyone who has been in a food safety audit knows exactly what happens when an auditor sights just a single cockroach or a sign of their presence. To put it short: It's bad news for you and your quality team.

Control measures for cockroaches

Pest control strategy should proactively be directed towards preventing cockroaches or other similar pests from infesting the warehouse. Once they invade the facility, controlling their population can come at a heavy economic loss to the warehouse management, not mentioning losing potential clients. Control measures include but are not limited to the following;

Timely sparing of the warehouse using food grade approved chemicals,
Proper housekeeping putting more emphasis in corners and dark places,
An effective receiving procedure that looks out for signs of pest infestation,
An elaborate master cleaning schedule that covers all parts of the warehouse, leaving no part undisturbed for a long period,
Proper maintenance of the warehouse structure by covering up and eliminating crevices within the wall.

Flying insects pest can be controlled by using the following;

glue boards
insectocutors
covering entrances like windows with insect nets

Note.

In the case of insectocutors, they must not be placed above any product.
insect traps must be placed at all points of entry into the warehouse.

Pest control program

Having looked at what the different warehouse pests are, let us now direct our emphasis on what the pest control program must-have. The warehouse pest control program must detail the following;

A designated pest management professional or have a company responsible for pest management.
Schedule for the pest control services frequency (depending on risk factors)
A list of the approved pesticides, their appropriate concentration, and areas of application
All the pest trap locations (schematic map) for both the internal and external and service labels showing the date of service.
Service reports of previous inspections.

Pest management professional

Depending on the local or statutory laws, different requirements must be met by a PMP or a company hired by the warehouse management to carry out pest management. Some requirements include but are not limited to the following;

A varied license from a statutory or an equivalent authority
Certification by a statutory or an equal authority
Proof that the PMP is insured

Note;

The above requirement should be kept on file and easily accessible upon a request.
In case the designated PMP is an internal staff, keep the proof of training by the authority or a related body on file.

Pesticides

Like it is the case for any chemicals used at a food-product handling warehouse, a material safety data sheets (MSD) must be available at the facility and readily accessible for reference.

All pesticides used at the warehouse must be approved for use in a food handling establishment, and that’s not all, pesticides must be properly labeled per the local or statutory requirements. The labels must indicate;

Area of use/ application (internal or external environment use)
The appropriate concentration of the pesticide
Storage instruction

Pest control traps

These go by names such as traps and bait stations. The warehouse management must have a schematic map showing the location of all the pest traps inside and outside the facility. The bait stations must be frequently serviced according to the schedule provided by the pest management professional, company, or a designated warehouse staff and a service tag indicating the date and the person who carried out the service.

The warehouse must have signages showing the exact location of the pest control traps and other information relevant to its staff. Furthermore, there is no fixed number of traps for a warehouse. It can have as many as required by its risk factor analysis.

Inspection service reports

After inspection and services by a PMP, the warehouse management must get a report about the findings and the status of the pest control program. These reports highlight areas of improvement, failures, and any other relevant information regarding the warehouse pest control program. These reports must be kept on file and used for continuous improvement of the pest control program and corrective actions in cases of a deviation. Besides that, inspection services reports can also show the trend analysis of all identified pests at the facility thus, enabling the management of the facility to devise ways or additional control measures to avoid a surge in the number of pests.

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