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Cockroach Control in Sensitive Environments, Part I
12 Jun, 2009 By: Dean Stanbridge Direct to You: Food-HandlingManaging any cockroach infestation can be a challenge, but add the restrictions evoked for food manufacturing and it would seem to be an impossible task. Defining a "sensitive environment" could also seem daunting, because aren’t all environments sensitive to one degree or another? Who’s to say a food plant is any more sensitive than a daycare or someone’s home?
For the sake of space, we will concentrate on some challenging aspects of performing cockroach control in food processing environments. Practicing pest management techniques in these environments can sometimes feel exactly that – practicing! The challenges presented with operational hours, raw materials and cleaning procedures can make our tasks seem impossible. I understand, as I’ve lived with those challenges for more than two decades of servicing food processing facilities. My hope is that those reading this article already know how to control cockroaches, but are looking for some tips on dealing with these environments.
And because this article is being published on the Internet and may be read from locales around the world, please keep in mind the specific techniques we cover may not be practical or legally utilized in your area.
How Many Cockroaches Are Too Many?
Cockroach control is a tough task, so make sure that you and your client understand each other's needs. It seems simple enough: They want zero cockroaches, and want you to guarantee that level of control. In a perfect world — with no production timelines, sanitation issues, regulation, etc. — that would be simple, but reality can be pretty sobering.
Fortunately, I’ve never seen a food processing facility that had problems everywhere. The clients will tell you they’re everywhere, but when you delve into the problems, we tend to find "pockets" of issues. Experience has taught me to carefully analyze the facility and break it down into zones. Zones can be classified into two categories:
1. Peripheral Zones: These are areas or pieces of equipment that are either getting spillover from neighboring infestations or where previous control techniques have merely resulted in population harvesting. These zones are generally straightforward to control with a variety of techniques thanks to ease of access and acceptable "downtime."
2. Primary Zones: These zones have had long-term, consistent cockroach pressure, stemming from either lack of access or inadequate downtime to perform cleaning and control tasks.
Define these zones by carefully assessing the facility through monitoring. If there has been a constant cockroach pressure in a particular area or process line, there is a reason. For you to be able to change the control outcome, you must change the insects' resource. Is that resource food, water or shelter? If a problem has survived for long periods, the answer again usually revolves around a lack of downtime of a particular area or piece of equipment.
There are several stages to monitoring. Your initial task will be to do a thorough enough assessment to create the zones. After you have determined what you believe to be your primary and peripheral zones, a more in-depth assessment will need to be performed. Monitoring these areas will be critical to your recordkeeping and decision processes.
We all know that a simple insect glue trap is not the answer. Monitoring in this case will involve carefully assessing the area or equipment, with the aid of both cleaning and maintenance staff. They will know more about the issue than you could ascertain in months. You will need to determine what is being missed in the process to permit the cockroaches to survive.
One of the best methods will be to capture the insects in a vacuum and count numbers. Although this seems tedious, the long-term results will reward your efforts — because with subjective numbers comes goal-setting and the ability to assess your control strategies.
In Part Two of this series (hitting your in-box in September), we will discuss how to set goals and control strategies that are realistic for both you and your client.
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