No
more‘pest’ering
Purabi
Naha learns about pest control management for master kitchens and restaurants
from Naresh Duggal, renowned entomologist, through the Godrej HiCare
training programme at Lonavala
The
food processing industry has set high standards when it comes to pest
management. A restaurant has to deal with food storage and one cannot
take pest infestation lightly in the business of food. In the corporate
training programme on pest control by Godrej HiCare, Naresh Duggal,
Board Certified Entomologist, Santa Clara County IPM Manager, California,
throws light on this crucial aspect.
Food packaging
or catering area Mr Duggal explains the entire kitchen scenario with
step-by-step, diverse, pestspecific methods to be adopted for an effective
pest control exercise. "Let us walk through a food packaging or
a catering area of a macro kitchen. We should look at the world behind
it. This is where you see the activity, this is where you see most of
the pests," he said. Actually, what we see in the 'visual areas'
of the kitchen is just one or two per cent of what is going on behind
the scene, where there are 'enriched' cockroaches – German, American,
and brown-banded – or any other structural pest. Mr Duggal remarks,
"A pest control treatment does not refer to a chemical treatment
alone. The chemical treatment is just one kind of treatment. We have
to give 'prescription' treatment. So we prescribe a precise dose of
a chemical or a non-chemical approach to solve the problem." Think
like a pest Let us again consider we are walking into a food packaging
and catering area. Your inspection starts right from the door because
these are the vital areas for the pests and you thoroughly inspect this
area with your flashlight. If you do not see any activity, then there
is no point that you apply any chemical," he suggests. Sometimes,
one might find that there is no pest, but the door is under a deteriorating
condition. So there are high chances for pests to flourish here in the
future. For this, Mr Duggal prescribes the policy 'prevention is better
than cure'.
Nocturnal
operation preferred
There is a tradition that when there is no operation in the kitchen,
the pests come out, because at that time, the hunger threat is not there.
So, there is no point in carrying out pest control in daytime. There
are two types of inspections – visual, and insertion of close monitors.
The food traps are introduced behind the working area of the macro kitchen
– not in the visible area. So each time a pest control person enters
the kitchen, he really doesn't need to do a thorough, detailed inspection.
At the next visit, he would just look for those monitors for any residual
activity and take necessary action. Pests in the workfloor
•
The sitting and packaging area
Suppose there is a sitting arrangement in the kitchen and some
person is coming from outside (say, coming from a movie) and he sits
there. Structural and food pests apart, there is likelihood that he
will transfer bed bugs from outside. Let us move on to the packaging
area. Suppose we consider dough rollers in a bakery. Some of the flour
sticks to both sides of a hydraulic shift. We can find Indian mealmoth
here.
•
The water boiler
Under hot and dry conditions, the pests that thrive are fireblasts
and silver fish. “The remedy for this would be boric acid dust.
We would also find German cockroaches. Make sure when treating pests
around boilers or any kind of ignition, not to use any kind of oilbased
chemicals, which may get ignited,” Mr Duggal advises
.•
The storage areas
Here, we come across confused flour beetles, red flour beetles,
multi-grain beetles, fruit-grain beetles, Indian mealmoth and so on.
According to Mr Duggal, “Vacuuming is the ideal pest control method
for the ingredients in the racks.” But here, can't we go for fumigation
(fogging) instead of vacuuming? “No, because you may not be able
to penetrate deep for the hardy pests. Hence, fogging is not recommended,”
he adds.
•
The roof
The right equipment is needed for controlling the roof pests (cockroaches
and so on). We can drill the holes and through the microinjector, inject
ultra-low volume of pyrethrin (1–3 per cent) down inside, allowing
all the pests to come in contact with it. Mr Duggal remarks, “Apart
from using pyrethrin, we can also use a combination of boric acid dust
and silicon dioxide/diatomaceous earth (a desiccant).”
•
The dishwashing area
For the dishwashing area, one should not ignore the area around
broken tiles, in which slime buildup invites flies. The remedy is actisol
(three per cent contact insecticide). The Hot House area of dishwashing
is the breeding ground for German and brownbanded cockroaches. So a
remedy has to be applied accordingly.
• The
food-assembly area
In this area, one should follow the 'cook and chill' method to
keep the food safe from microbial contamination. The brew kettles should
also be looked at, because of a high probability of detecting silver
fish in this particular area. Pest control should be done in the most
environment-friendly manner possible, which calls for adopting a method
that is least toxic. As Mr Duggal's concluding remarks go, "The
more you understand the loyalty of what approach should be applied,
the chemical or the non-chemical, the better it is." So, 'never
leave even a single bug behind' is the 'bug policy' we should strictly
follow.
