What Is Stored Product Insect

If we talk about cockroaches, ants, mosquitoes or even rats, these are common household pests that we are either familiar with or encounter often. However, stored product insect (SPI) is another pest that is commonly associated with food and causes damaging consequences when an infestation arises. In this article, Rentokil shares more about the stored product insect, the signs to look out for and ways to get rid of them effectively.

Learning more about stored product insect

Stored product insects (SPI) are tiny pests that cause damaging consequences and financial implications to homes and businesses. They infest and damage ready to eat and use food or during the production process. They can infest at various stages from raw material production, packaging, distribution, home or store usage and individual consumption. Typically categorised as plant or animal-based association, there are many types of SPI species and here are the three groups of SPI:

Beetles and weevils

These form the largest order in the animal kingdom, Coleoptera with over 400,000 species. They feed on and breed in a range of dried plant and animal products that humans use. Most of them can fly when they are adults to seek new food supplies and breeding sites.

Moths

Adult moths have no biting mouthparts as they suck liquid food. The larvae have biting mouthparts for eating solid foods and can chew through some types of packaging. The winged adults, obviously, are the most mobile and can fly to the food sources suitable for laying their eggs.

Mites

Mites are not insects, but arachnids and are related to spiders and ticks. They are the smallest of the pests at less than 1mm across when adult. They not only contaminate and taint food but also can cause allergic reactions. In addition, they can infest a wide range of foods causing food contamination.

Where can you find stored product insect?

Due to their attraction to food ingredients, stored product insects are a common pest in environments including food manufacturing, grocery stores, warehouses, storage rooms and kitchens. In particular, their presence is around food packaging, raw materials, sacks, inventories and food machinery. Some species such as the weevils may also be found outdoors such as garden, trees and plants and enter into your premise through cracks, gaps and crevices. Lastly, they favour dark, damp and moist conditions. Hence, it is important to keep the place well ventilated and free for water and moisture.

What attracts stored product insects?

While we know pests are mostly attracted to typical comfort food such as grease, sugar, protein and juices, stored products insects favour the following:

• Dried and preserved food
• Organic ingredients
• Grains, nuts, seeds, cereals and flour
• Cheese and pasta
• Preserved meat
• Tobacco and spices
• Fermented or decaying matter
• Coffee, cocoa and nutmegs
• Packaging materials such as paper and cardboard
• Water and moisture

What conditions promote stored product insects?

There are certain conditions that place your home or premise high risk of an infestation. A place for shelter, seek food supplies, water, and a quiet site for harbourage and breeding is a high-risk environment. Some of the conditions that contribute to high infestation risks include:

• Surrounding areas: Adjoining land and properties may be sources of insects that make the area risk for food handling and processing.
• Stagnant water: Puddles, ditches and places with poor drainage can accumulate water that attracts insects to breed. This includes open concreted spaces, vehicle parking areas and timber pallets that rot and become mouldy, attracting some SPIs that feed on mould.
• Food waste storage area: Food waste and other organic matters are prime attractions for many kinds of insects. They should be stored away from entrances, removed regularly and the containers and surrounding area cleaned regularly to remove any solid or liquid food residues.
• Vegetation: Plants provide harbourage and food for insects and the smell of flowers, fruit, nuts and seeds attract insects. Keep areas around buildings free of vegetation as much as possible.
• Lighting: Lighting attracts insects and should be kept away from entrances to buildings where possible, or use lamps with low UV content

Read also: Do you know water and moisture attracts pests

Why is eliminating stored product insects essential?

Damages and consequences arising from stored product insects

These pests similar to others are harmful to our health and safety and tend to cause monetary and time loss. Eliminating stored product insects especially in food sensitive and high dependency business is all the more important.

Firstly, they seek food supply and infest during raw production or food packaging that results in product recall or potential food contamination. Secondly, any presence of pests including the SPI would fail the necessary audit and regulatory compliance requirements. Thirdly, when an infestation arises, there would be disruption to the operations and production schedule. This results in delaying and compromising on the distribution commitments. Finally, depending on the seriousness, a business closure may take place that causes implications in employment. Above all, is the financial consequence and implications the business need to bear, comprising product recall, operation stoppage, penalties, compensation and negative brand image.

The complexity of running a food establishment business is vast. Proactive actions in terms of pest control have to be in place to alleviate unnecessary business risks and challenges. In addition, the role of a pest control company do not just deliver the pest treatments but to support partners in other aspects. They involve the following:

• Assess the surrounding environment internally and externally for pest risks
• Inspect the premise and monitor for any potential pest infestation
• Recommend any additional flush out programmes should acute pest problem arise
• Reporting facility including an online platform that illustrates the premise’s activity
• Recommendations and tips on maintaining pest-free environment
• Education and outreach among users and employees on pest awareness
• Regulatory audit support and quality control

Ways on how stored product insects damaged food supplies

• Consuming the food product, resulting in loss of product
• Causing physical damage to the product and degrading the quality, for example making holes in seeds, nuts and grain
• Contaminating products with insect body parts, faeces, shed skins, pupae, webbing
• Spoiling products with microorganisms: fungi, moulds, bacteria, viruses and parasites
• Increasing the heat and moisture content through respiration of the pests and microorganisms, which in turn increases the growth rate of the pests and microorganisms
• Damaging products with mycotoxins produced by fungi they have introduced into the food
• Changing the physical properties of ingredients, which can disrupt food processing machinery and spoil batches of product
• Affecting the smell and taste of the final product

How to get rid of stored product insect

Getting rid of pests, regardless of the pest species types all require the same approach. They comprise of detection and spotting for early signs, controlling the pest presence through a pest control specialist and maintaining with housekeeping and sanitation efforts.

Identify the signs of pest infestation

It is important to conduct detailed inspections of stored products and storage areas to identify an infestation as early as possible. Examine deliveries on arrival and make regular checks on food that has been in storage for a while — make sure suppliers and shipping or transport agents also have a regime of inspection and monitoring. The common signs of a stored product insect infestation are:

• Product, packaging and parcels that shows signs of damage
• Live or dead insects in the food storage areas, beams, windowsills, food processing machinery, packaging and food products
• Food spillages containing live insects, larvae, pupae or silken webbing
• Holes in packaging
• Any larvae, pupae or silken webbing where food is stored

Pest detection and identifying their species types may be challenging especially among the untrained like us. Firstly, we might not know specifically where to look out for pest signs particularly in a large compound such as food manufacture or warehouse. Secondly, most pests are tiny and we can miss out detecting them especially in hidden spaces and corners. Thirdly, there are millions of pest species that we are not trained to identify. Wrong pest identification can result in detrimental outcomes by delivering the wrong pest treatment, causing infestation to escalate. In summary, the first step in SPI control is to detect proactively and ensure the right pest identification.

Engage in pest control services

Pest control for a food sensitive environment is utmost important. The main line of defence in a food facility is to eliminate insects that get into the building without contaminating any food products.

Electric fly killers are an efficient way to attract and safely contain any flying insects. Rentokil Initial has a cutting-edge innovation; the Lumnia Fly Control has UV LED bulbs that are highly attractive to insects. They effectively captured and secured pests inside the unit with glueboards and contained within safely. One of the key feature benefits of the Lumnia technology is its energy savings function that helps businesses save on heavy operating costs especially in a large compound. It also has an adaptive mode that coordinates with the environment while maintaining optimal catch rate.

Besides the fly control unit, complementing solutions are also recommended to ensure optimal control. This includes misting or spraying at targeted corners and treating for other pests that are common in a food space. These include ants, flies, cockroaches, rats and mosquitoes. Pest treatment is not just guarding internally where food sources are, but guarding the external compound where pest entries can take place.

You may also like: What you need to know about indoor and outdoor pest control

Pest prevention tips and recommendations

While you have a robust and efficient stored product insect solution in place and the active lookout for pest signs, these are not sustainable unless there is active efforts on premise end to ensure diligent housekeeping regime, proofing elements and well-designed environment to prevent cross infestation.

Ensure pest entries are limited through structure integrity

Start to take more notice in the surrounding compound especially where there are opportunities for pests to enter. With their minute body size, they are capable of traveling from place to place and enter from any possible gaps without your notice. Here are some proofing considerations to undertake:

• Openings: Buildings should have minimum openings such as windows, doors and vents.
• Windows, doors and vents: Install fine mesh screens to prevent access to flying insects, and windows and doors must be kept shut when not in use.
• Cables and pipes: They provide potential access routes for insects. Hence, it should be sealed at entry points into buildings. Poor maintenance can allow more crawling and flying routes into a building to develop.
• External doors: Doors should not open directly into areas processing food to maintain hygiene and prevent insects having a direct route into the area.
• Roof drainage: Roofs should have adequate drainage with no water accumulation and have no potential entry points into the building for insects or other pests.
• Debris on roofs: Ensure they are kept free of debris, which can provide shelter and food for insects, and bird nests, which support colonies of SPIs and can block drainage systems..
• Heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems: These can leak or drip water, providing insects and other pests with a supply of moisture or breeding sites. They can also provide flying and crawling access points into the building if not designed or maintained properly.
• Food loading and unloading areas: Keep the areas free of food and other debris and cleaned regularly.

Consider design of infrastructure that minimise pest infestation

The design of the structure and property can affect pest presence and with some adjustments or change in design, it strengthens the control of pest presence and their activities. Here are some design adjustments to enhance the control effort.

• Space for easy cleaning: The internal design of buildings and the layout of equipment and machinery should enable easy cleaning and maintenance to prevent build-up of food residues.
• Materials used: Floors, walls and doors should be made of materials that are durable, easy to clean and prevent cracks and crevices forming that can accumulate food residues and moisture and provide shelter for small insects. Regular inspection and maintenance is essential to keep them in a suitable state.
• Openings for pipes and cables: They should be sealed to prevent access for pests and prevent build-up of air-borne food residues in hidden, hard-to-clean spaces. Conduits can provide large amounts of space suitable for crawling insects to shelter and routes to travel around the building.
• Ceilings and roof spaces: Provide easy access for regular inspection and cleaning to prevent accumulation of debris and infestation by insects and other pests. They are ideal places for debris to build up and insects or rodents to shelter.
• Drains: should be easy to maintain and clean. They require regular cleaning and maintenance to prevent build-up of organic matter and biofilms that can provide feeding and breeding sites for insects.
• Electrical machinery: Voids and crevices are ideal for debris to accumulate and small insects to hide and breed. Electrical equipment also provides warmth that can improve breeding conditions. The siting of equipment can affect ease of cleaning and creates difficulty to get to places where insects could remain undisturbed and food residues accumulate.

Call Rentokil Singapore at (65) 6347 8138 for a pest control solution today.