Modern Cockroach Control in Food and Beverage Facilities

Managing cockroaches is a whole different food group of pest management when developing an IPM plan for food and beverage facilities. The provider must understand FDA regulations and a litany of food safety and quality rules, not to mention documentation for audits.

“It’s important to interview those partners and find out if they can handle compliance paperwork and that they understand how to report and document findings,” said Marc Fintz, chief compliance officer at All Natural Products in Bergen, N.J.

The company operates several divisions. It produces bagels sold in New York City’s hotels, sells frozen food as a distributor and works with local fresh markets. Fintz’s QA role covers all the bases.

“I’ve had pest control companies come to talk to me, and they have great experience, but not in food processing facilities,” he said. “It’s a different game. You have to be extremely careful about the nature of the treatments.”

ELEVATED DATA COLLECTION.

Plunkett’s Pest Control, headquartered in Fridley, Minn., with locations across the country, developed two programs for audited and inspected facilities, ProGuard and FlexGuard. The rigor varies slightly, “but all are robust for the food processor,” said Patrick Davis, a field training coordinator with CP-FS and CFFS food safety credentials.

Equipment capacity, data collection, high-level communication and response are hallmarks of these programs, with many clients receiving weekly visits from a technician who knows the ins and outs of facilities.

Plunkett’s incorporates technology with the Clipboard Pro platform. Technicians capture data manually during visits and enter it into the program, which creates a document posted to a platform each food or beverage processing company can access with a password.

“We service lots of national chains with many locations, so they can look at data across the board,” Davis said.

This helps with preparing auditing materials.

“We have some clients that require quarterly trending data, and they’re always surprised when I say, ‘This is up to date from our last visit,’ which is a real advance from years ago,” he said.

A MULTI-STEP APPROACH.

At Truly Nolen, based in Tucson, Ariz., with over 100 U.S. locations and offices in 67 countries, John Harvey, division sales manager for commercial accounts, explained how cockroach control approaches for complex environments like food and beverage facilities have significantly improved.

A decade ago, commonly accepted protocol included using an atomizing machine to disperse the affected spaces with an insect growth regulator (IGR).

“The problem was any area that is a food contact surface had to be cleaned before it was put back into service,” he said of the inefficiency and cost of completely stopping a line for an undetermined amount of time.

The kill ratio was about 70 to 80 percent this way.

“But, if you leave behind 2,000 roaches, an average cockroach can produce up to 400 eggs in a 35- to 60-day cycle,” Harvey said.

Now, Truly Nolen takes a four-step approach. It includes a residual foaming agent containing an IGR for cracks and crevices, where cockroaches love to fester and breed.

“Rather than blanketing an area, it’s focused,” Harvey said.

Pheromone monitors allow technicians to track cockroach movement and follow trails to harborages. Technicians also dust wall voids with a product that has a one-year residual, along with implementing targeted gel bait systems.

Harvey said the kill rate is 98 to 99 percent.

“With this methodology, we eliminate the problem over 30 to 60 days with an initial knockdown of 80 percent, and if there is a reintroduction, we can quickly react,” he said.

Fintz acknowledged, “Cockroaches are probably one of the more difficult pests to remediate, so you have to be diligent and able to react on the first sign, because it can become a huge problem if not addressed immediately.”

INSPECTION ATTENTION.

As any practiced PMP will say, inspection is job one.

Cooperation is a prerequisite, because pest control technicians may need to gain access to the underlayers — and in-between layers — of a facility. Hot spots include the cracks and crevices you know about and voids you’ve never seen, like behind walls and between levels of a building. Electrical junction boxes are a favorite, along with areas that are extra moist from leaky pipes — including those embedded into the infrastructure.

“We’ve had situations where we’ve had to drill holes in the walls so we can apply dust,” said Davis, remarking on the value of a collaborative relationship.

Self-auditing, as Fintz said, is a must for food and beverage facilities. Basically, check yourself before the auditor checks your building.

Every employee is an inspector of sorts at All Natural Products.

“We have an incident report and a chain of command,” Fintz said. “Then, we escalate the issue to our third parties.

Sightings aren’t necessarily about spotting a cockroach.

“It includes identifying conducive conditions where cockroaches can flourish,” Fintz said, pointing to spaces where water might collect, wall seams and gaps by equipment. The circumstance isn’t necessarily an obvious puddle or litter-trail of crumbs.

“It doesn’t take much to attract roaches,” said Rick Falkenberg, Ph.D., CFS, PCQI and founder of Food Safety & Process Technology Group in Turlock, Calif. “It comes down to the nitty-gritty. That means baseboards, floor-wall junctures, pallets and storage areas.”

Fintz said jam-packed storage areas with no wiggle room for inspection are a culprit.

“You need walk-around space, sufficient lighting and visibility that lends itself to you or employees seeing if there is a cause for concern,” he said.

Kathleen Silkowski engages employees in an always-inspecting mindset.

“We inspect our property inside and out daily,” said the quality assurance manager of Tarpon Springs, Fla.-based Hellas Authentic Greek Bakery. This effort supports a comprehensive IPM program with a trusted provider.

Knowing common hot spots helps focus the staff’s attention on key areas of concern. The facility’s two trash compactors are secured, one reserved for clean cardboard to be recycled and the other for waste management. They’re housed in an indoor environment, sealed from pests roaming outside and double-doored off from the main facility.

An all-hands-on-deck approach that integrates sanitation spells success at Hallas, said Silkowski.