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This information can be used to develop food safety and quality programs that meet the requirements of modern Regulatory, Customer and Industry Standards:
When considering the development, documentation, and implementation of Pest and Vermin Control within food safety and quality management systems, the following information should be considered to ensure effective outcomes:
Animals and insects found in food establishments are considered pests because they can transmit diseases to humans by coming in contact with food and food contact surfaces. These pests must be given serious attention when they are found in food establishments and every action must be taken to eliminate them. It is generally accepted best practice to prevent pest entry to food premises rather than removing pests once identified.
Pests affecting food production can generally be divided into groups including:
Birds may pose a risk in an unspecified number or variety. It is most important that birds other than those legally intended for consumption are excluded from all areas of food premises; Internal and External.
The public health significance of flies cannot be appreciated until it is realized that flies breed in decomposing animal and plant waste and feed on a variety of filth including feces, vomit, and garbage.
Flies transmit disease in the following ways:
Three flies commonly observed within food businesses include:
One of the hardest insects to control in food establishments is the cockroach. These insects are active when and where it is dark. When it is light, cockroaches hide in dark recesses between and under equipment, under sinks and in floor drains.. Because these areas generally cannot be properly cleaned, these insects come in contact with considerable filth and bacteria. The German cockroach contributes to most cockroach problems. It is a prolific breeder. Females carry their eggs in an egg case on the tip of the tail. The egg cases will be dropped in the best place for their development. Immature German Cockroaches look like miniature replicas of the adults.
Several beetles and several moths are found in food establishments from time to time. These pests are brought into the food establishment with contaminated food products such as flour, meal, grain, cereals, seeds, beans, nuts, pasta, or spices. It does not take long for the pests to become so numerous that other similar foods in the establishment are attacked and contaminated. Foods containing these pests are adulterated and unsuitable for human consumption and usually must be destroyed or converted to animal feed.
The House Mouse is a common rodent pest. It could be found in almost any food establishment without an efficient rodent control program.
The following attribute of the House Mouse is important to facilitating effective pest controls:
The Brown Rat and Black Ship Rat are also common rodent pests. These are generally encouraged into any food premises by poor housekeeping practices.
Deterring pests from entering the premises is a more effective method of control than ridding an infested premise of pests. The maintenance of a hygienic working environment is paramount in assuming control of pests. Pests pose a major threat to the safety and suitability of food. Pest infestations can occur where there are breeding sites and a supply of food. Good hygiene practices should be employed to avoid creating an environment conducive to pests. Good sanitation, an inspection of incoming materials, and good monitoring can minimize the likelihood of infestation and thereby limit the need for pesticides.
Factors that greatly affect pest control efficiency include:
Buildings should be kept in good repair and condition to prevent pest access and to eliminate potential breeding sites. Holes, drains and other places where pests are likely to gain access should be kept sealed. Wire mesh screens, for example on open windows, doors, and ventilators, will reduce the problem of pest entry. Animals should, wherever possible, be excluded from the grounds of factories and food processing plants. The availability of food and water encourages pest harborage and infestation. Potential food sources should be stored in pest-proof containers or stacked above the ground and away from walls. Areas both inside and outside food premises should be kept clean. Where appropriate, garbage should be stored in covered, pest-proof containers. Pest infestations should be dealt with immediately and without adversely affecting food safety or suitability. Treatment with chemical, physical or biological agents should be carried out without posing a threat to the safety or suitability of food.
Pest Control contractors must be sufficiently qualified and licensed to facilitate required services. Likewise, where the pest control is managed by a food business, the participants must have appropriate training regarding the safe storage and use of the relevant pest control chemicals. Some food safety legislation requires Pest Control Technicians to have a specified license for their interactions within the pest control process. Copies of relevant and current licenses should be readily available as a component of the documented pest control program. In addition to the treatments and applications that a Pest Contractor may use to assist with the control of pests, the establishment and management of it play a key role in the prevention, control, and eradication of pests.
As with requirements for all pests and vermin, the exclusion is the preferred method for bird control, so it is important to:
In some countries, baiting and shooting of nuisance birds are permitted by authorized pest controllers. These techniques are usually applied as a final option.
Food establishments must have an effective fly and flying insect control program.
The following methods are commonly applied to achieve effective controls of flies and flying insects:
Although sanitation can reduce feeding and breeding sites to some extent, chemical control is almost always necessary to eliminate a cockroach infestation, once established. Most often, the services of a licensed pest control operator will be necessary to control an infestation. Also, repeated treatments will always be required to eliminate the pest.
Once established, control can be difficult, and only by careful observation for signs of the insects, destruction of contaminated food products, and chemical control can these pests be brought under control. Because these pests invade a variety of foods, controlling them is difficult once they become well established. Control generally is successful after prolonged systematic destruction of infested food products and fumigation with insecticides at regular intervals.
Food establishment operators must have an effective rodent control program consisting of the following:
Pest control chemicals must be suitable for use within and around food businesses. Current Safety Data Sheets should be readily available as documented components of the pest control program and must provide information regarding the suitability for the chemicals to be used around foodstuffs. Chemicals must be applied in a manner that does not compromise the safety or suitability of any food or food contact surface. It is important in this regard to keep chemicals away from exposed food areas, or areas where chemical contamination of food could occur. Withholding or exposure periods for chemicals must be observed where applicable.
Under no circumstances should items such as fly or insect sprays, powders, bombs, other chemicals, or pest control devices be located or used within areas where foods may become contaminated through the use of such.
Bait and chemical application sites should be nominated with a Pest Bait Station and Treatment Map, which includes all areas of application. This is a critical resource in ensuring the correct usage and control of the chemicals used within the pest control program.
As with other chemicals, pest control chemicals must be stored and handled in a manner that facilitates safe practice. This generally includes storing these types of chemicals in locked, stable, and well-ventilated storage areas. Procedures for the storage, handling, and use of such chemicals should be documented, which include specific nominations regarding skills and training requirements for personnel and contractors involved in providing technical advice or applying chemicals. The application of pest control chemicals must be documented to ensure the process is traceable regarding any potential contamination issues. This is commonly done within a Pest Control Service Verification Log.
If your food business supplies foodstuffs manufactured to a customer’s specifications, it is important to consider any specific Pest and Vermin Control Development requirements concerning their items.
Document: A document provides guidance and/or direction for performing work, making decisions, or rendering judgments that affect the safety or quality of the products or services that customers receive.
Documented policies, procedures, work instructions, and schedules form the basis of any food safety and quality management system. The following document formats may be considered to ensure ongoing compliance with specified requirements for Pest and Vermin Control:
If your food business supplies foodstuffs manufactured to a customer’s specifications, it is important to consider any specific Pest and Vermin Control Documentation requirements concerning their items.
You may wish to visit the Pest and Vermin Control Templates section of haccp.com for examples of Pest and Vermin Control documentation, record, and resource formats commonly applied within food safety and quality systems.
Implementation: Implementation is the application of documented food safety and quality system elements into the actual business operation.
The implementation of Pest and Vermin Control within any food business requires genuine commitment from senior management, staff, and visitors to ensure the nominated goals of implementation are achievable on an ongoing basis. It is a step that requires significant planning and consideration of general and specific food business circumstances to ensure the outcomes of Pest and Vermin Control do not negatively impact the safety and quality of the food items dispatched from the business.
Implementation of Pest and Vermin Control must include a clear definition of responsibilities and authorities for all levels of participation by senior management, staff, and visitors to the site.
When implementing Pest and Vermin Control within food safety and quality system, you may wish to consider the following requirements before completion:
If your food business supplies foodstuffs manufactured to a customer’s specifications, it is important to consider any specific Pest and Vermin Control Implementation requirements concerning their items.
Monitoring: Monitoring is the act of reviewing and confirming measurable parameters of a defined process or product status.
Monitoring requirements within food industry sectors are generally identified against limits of acceptability defined within HACCP plans, implementation procedures, and work instructions. Monitoring usually includes some element of record-keeping, which may be maintained manually or through digital systems. It is important to consider that advancements in technology have spawned many systems and processes which are self-monitored and or self-adjusted when variances are identified. Regardless of the system used; The goal of any monitoring activity is to provide sufficient evidence that any limit of acceptability has been met.
Traditional Pest and Vermin Control monitoring requirements include manual recording and the application of corrective actions when the results of monitoring are found to be outside acceptable limits. Corrective Actions should also generally be strongly linked to the monitoring process to ensure full traceability of the applied actions.
Common monitoring activities and record formats may apply to Pest and Vermin Control:
If your food business supplies foodstuffs manufactured to a customer’s specifications, it is important to consider any specific Pest and Vermin Control Monitoring requirements concerning their items.
You may wish to visit the Pest and Vermin Control Templates section of haccp.com for examples of Pest and Vermin Control documentation, record, and resource formats commonly applied within food safety and quality systems.
Corrective Action: Corrective action is mandatory action to be taken when a deviation to the Quality System occurs, particularly concerning a Critical Control Point.
Preventative Action: At any step in the process where a hazard has been identified, preventative action must be put into place to prevent re-occurrence.
Corrective Action and Preventative Action is implemented to ensure that any identified non-conformance issues are documented, investigated, and rectified within appropriate time-frames. Corrective action is any action applied to regain control over a product, process, policy, or procedure that has been identified as being non-conforming outside nominated limits of acceptability. Preventative action is any action applied to prevent any identified non-conformance from reoccurring.
The outcomes of corrective and preventative actions should result in regained process control after effective application. Specified corrective actions are commonly linked to the HACCP Plans and the food business certification process.
Below are Corrective Action and Preventative Action examples which may be associated with Pest and Vermin Control related non-conformance:
If your food business supplies foodstuffs manufactured to a customer’s specifications, it is important to consider any specific Pest and Vermin Control Corrective Action requirements concerning their items.
You may wish to visit the Corrective Action and Preventative Action section of haccp.com for examples of best practice applications for this food safety and quality system element.
Verification: The act of reviewing, inspecting, testing, checking, auditing, or otherwise establishing and documenting whether items, processes, services, or documents conform to specified requirements.
Verification is the detailed review of all food safety and quality system elements to confirm that they are effectively developed, documented, implemented, monitored, and reviewed. All food safety and quality system elements, including documented policies, procedures, training, HACCP plans, and their operational applications must be verified on an ongoing scheduled basis. The verification process commonly includes a defined schedule for which verification activities are required, how often they are conducted, who is responsible, and detailed documented procedures for each nominated verification activity.
The general goal of an established verification process is to ensure any systemic non-conformance issues are identified and rectified within an appropriate time frame. When non-conformance issues are identified through the verification process, Corrective Actions and Preventative Actions should be implemented to ensure they do not impact the effectiveness of the food safety and quality system.
The following examples of verification activities may apply to Pest and Vermin Control:
Routine verification that the pest management program is effective, for example, no visible signs of pests or infestation, should be completed internally. This is often documented as part of the GMP review or audit.
If your food business supplies foodstuffs manufactured to a customer’s specifications, it is important to consider any specific Pest and Vermin Control Verification requirements concerning their items.
You may wish to visit the Verification Activities section of haccp.com for examples of best practice applications for this food safety and quality system element.
Validation: The process of gathering evidence to provide a scientific basis for the documented act of demonstrating that a procedure, process, and activity will consistently lead to the expected results. It often includes the qualification of systems and equipment.
Validation is the provision of evidence to support the limits of control or acceptability for food safety or quality parameters nominated within systemic elements. Limits of control or acceptability are commonly included within documented food safety and quality systems elements such as procedures, HACCP plans, and specifications.
Common sources of validation include regulatory and legislative standards, finished product specifications and customer requirements, industry codes of practice and guidelines, verified and validated research, historical product, and process control outcomes, and analytical testing.
The general goal of an established validation process is to ensure any systemic non-conformance issues are identified and rectified within an appropriate time frame. When non-conformance issues are identified through the verification process, Corrective Actions and Preventative Actions should be implemented to ensure they do not impact the effectiveness of the food safety and quality system.
Validation activities are commonly defined within the verification schedules and procedures of established food safety and quality management systems.
The following examples may apply to validation of the limits of control or acceptability for Pest and Vermin Control:
If your food business supplies foodstuffs manufactured to a customer’s specifications, it is important to consider any specific Pest and Vermin Control Validation requirements concerning their items.
You may wish to visit the Validation Activities section of haccp.com for examples of best practice applications for this food safety and quality system element.
Skills and Knowledge: Skills and knowledge are attributes of human interactions commonly linked to competency within any specified job-related task.
Training and competency requirements for Pest and Vermin Control must be ongoing, including regularly scheduled reviews to ensure the effectiveness of training and competency outcomes.
Team members who have defined responsibilities regarding Pest and Vermin Control should know including:
Team members who have defined responsibilities regarding Pest and Vermin Control
should have skills including:
Team members who have defined responsibilities regarding Pest and Vermin Control should have access to resources including:
If your food business supplies foodstuffs manufactured to a customer’s specifications, it is important to consider any specific Pest and Vermin Control Training, Competency, and Resources requirements concerning their items.
You may wish to visit the Training, Competency, and Resources section of haccp.com for examples of best practice applications for this food safety and quality system element.
haccp.com was created to support food businesses and food industry professionals in achieving and maintaining the stringent requirements of food industry compliance.