Web Exclusive: Stored product pest research continues

In our January issue, we turned our Pest Spotlight onto stored product pests, noting that we’d round up research on this category of pests online.

Not wanting to disappoint, we now present:

• Waxworms chow down on polyethylene: As found online in Chemical & Engineering News, the polyethylene found in so many of today’s bags, bottles and packaging is a worry to the science community because common microbes are unable to break it down in landfills. A Chinese study found, however, that the larvae of the Indianmeal moth (Plodia interpunctella), also known as waxworms, have microbes in their gut that can digest the plastic.
• Sensor sniffs out Khapra beetles: As found online in Australian magazine Food Processing, researchers at the Edgewood Chemical Biological Center (ECBC) are working on an “easier, more effective way to inspect bulk food supply for Khapra beetles.” They are working on a sensor that can be placed within a crate before shipment, then transmitted by smartphone to inspectors whether there is any infestation. In this way, they do not have to open every container.

If you know of industry-related research going on with stored product or other pests, drop us a line at pmpeditor@northcoastmedia.net.