Ants in your Plants

It’s 4:45 on a Friday afternoon. Production is just about shut down for the weekend when an employee comes up to you to report that he saw an ant in the plant. It’s been a long week, and you’re definitely ready for the weekend. Do you:

A. Record it in the pest sighting logbook, figuring the technician will see it next time he comes in.

B. Jot yourself a quick note to take care of it first thing Monday morning. C. Call your pest management technician for an emergency visit. According to Joe Barile, technical service lead for Bayer, the only correct answer is

C. “If a QA manager suspects, sees, or has ant activity reported, they must act on it immediately,” Barile said. “If it is 4:45, and they’re shutting down for the weekend, they still need to act on it, or two ants can become thousands in minutes.”

While ants can carry and transfer disease bacteria, this is not as much an issue as with other pests, such as cockroaches and flies that feed and breed in pathogenic areas. But, because one ant that finds food in your plant can leave a trail for the entire colony of workers to follow, they can create adulteration hazards for your product in and around processing and storage areas.

“If you have a big ant problem, it’s probably indicative of other problems,” said Rockwell Labs’ Cisse Spragins. The most common reason for ant problems is lack of sanitation. “If ants are coming in, it will probably be because there is something there they want to eat,” she said.

Ants can be very finicky creatures, attracted to sweets one day and protein on another. “In food plants, ants will feed on certain things depending on what the colony needs,” Barile said. “Its individual needs are not as important as the colony’s as a whole.” For example, one day the ants may seek proteins needed for the queen to lay her eggs; on another, they may seek fats to store for energy. Thus, ant behavior can change based on the food the colony needs.

Food build up or spillage may be attracting the ants, or, said Hope Bowman, Western Pest Services entomologist and technical specialist, “Ants may be attracted to storage areas where food hasn’t been moved for a period of time. If there’s spillage, they are even more likely to find it.”

Plants should pay particular attention to break rooms, where food spillage may occur, and employee locker rooms, where open foods may be stored, Bowman said. She recommends that plants have monthly or quarterly cleanout of lockers and locker rooms. By throwing out old food and keeping areas clean, a plant can guard against cockroaches and rodents as well as ants.

In addition to plant sanitation, Spragins said, “The most important thing is to not have ants get inside in the first place. You want to stop them outside before they get in and cause a problem.”

Ants can enter buildings through gaps, cracks, and seams, as well as open dock doors and windows. Thus, the first step in keeping ants out is following standard pest-proofing practices: sealing all gaps, cracks, and seams; keeping doors and windows closed; and ensuring these are well-sealed with fitted gaskets, door sweeps, etc. “The most obvious thing to do is to build them out,” Barile said.

Gaps can also occur around utility chases, with only 1/64-inch hole needed for an ant to get in and out. “Be sure these are sealed tight, tight, tight, because ants are very small,” he said.

As discussed by University of Georgia Researcher Dan Suiter at the ProBusiness Exchange Symposium sponsored by DuPont Professional Products last spring, it is important to be proactive with ant exclusion. When temperatures drop in the fall and winter, populations looking for places to overwinter can move indoors, causing a “major headache,” he said. “Do what you can to head off these extreme September and October populations.”

Chemical Control. Exterior controls can also include chemical application, but one thing the experts all cautioned against is attempting to self-treat unless you have a great deal of knowledge about ants. Restricted-use products should be used only by trained, certified applicators, but even using over-the-counter products can simply make the problem worse. “If you only spray,” Spragins said, “you are just chasing workers away; you’re not doing anything to eliminate the colony.”

This can be particularly at issue with ant species that have multiple queens. For example, Bowman said, pharaoh ants will split rapidly and create new colonies, causing even greater problems for the plant.

The most critical aspect of chemical use is ensuring it is labeled for that use, particularly for in-plant application. “Any chemical has to be approved,” Barile said. As such, he added, “label comprehension is critical.” If a product is used that is not labeled for food production areas, the FDA can designate the food as contaminated and not fit for consumption.

Spragins recommends treatment around the outside perimeter with a weather-resistant granular bait. The worker ants will take the bait back to the nest to feed the queen and colony, thus eliminating the entire colony, rather than just the foraging workers.

The bait can also be placed on a slow-acting, non-repellent residual. The ant will get the chemical on its body then carry the bait and chemical back to its nest. “It is very effective when you have an active ant problem,” Spragins said. “The combination works better than either one by itself.”

Pest management professionals (PMP) should also focus on inspecting for ants, both outside and within the plant, Bowman said. They should look for areas and foods that could be attractive to the ants, as well as structural openings or defects through which the ants can enter. While inspecting rodent stations, PMPs should also look for ants, she said, as the stations can be treated, or baited, for the ants along with rodents.

“The best process is for the QA or safety manager to rely on a professional to provide the monitoring, diagnostics, inspection service, and communication on a regular basis,” Barile said. This communication should focus on:

1. the PMP gaining a complete understanding of plant processes and people, including a sit-down meeting with all those who will be involved, then walking through the plant with the person who will be responsible for acting on recommendations.
2. two-way conversation including history of the plant and concerns of the processor, and the PMP’s initial observations of conducive conditions.
3. follow-up on all recommendations. “Food plants are often surprised when they hear the PMP talk about things they never knew contributed to pests,” Barile said, such as employee behavior, lighting, food in desk drawers, and outside ornamentals.

“Pay attention to the service report,” Bowman added. “A technician may make a recommendation that is not necessarily pest specific, such as spillage or a leak. Know that there is a reason the technician is telling you about it.”

“If you’re taking the proper preventive measures, you shouldn’t develop any major issues,” Spragins said.

The author is Managing Editor of QA magazine. She can be reached at llupo@giemedia.com.