The Cadra Chronicles - 2024: Where can the Almond Moth, Cadra cautella, be found in the food supply chain?

And its relevance to solving consumer complaints about insects in chocolates

The almond moth, Cadra cautella, has the potential to infest products at various points along the food supply chain.

Here’s a breakdown of the most likely places where the almond month could infest food such as dried fruits, grains, nuts, cocoa beans and spices.

Production and Harvesting:

• Fields and Orchards:?While the crop fields are not a primary almond month infestation site, almond moths may be attracted to drying fruits or nuts left in the field after harvest, initiating the infestation.
• Initial Storage:?Moth infestation may happen in temporary storage sites at farms or processing facilities if sanitation practices aren’t rigorous, thus starting the infestation cycle that progresses to the next steps of the food supply chain.

Processing and Packaging:

• Processing Plants:?Warehouses and food processing facilities are hotbeds for almond moth activity if cleaning and prevention measures are inadequate. Products such as dry fruit mixes, breakfast cereals, processed nuts, chocolates, spice products and even pet foods can become infested during manufacture and packaging.
• Packaging Materials:?In rare cases, almond moth larvae have been found to bore through cardboard-like packaging materials, which allows them to infest products even after packaging.

Transportation and Warehousing:

• Trucks, Ships, Trains:?Vehicles, especially those that previously carried susceptible products, can harbour almond moths or their eggs, infesting susceptible food products transported in those vehicles.
• Storage Warehouses:?Long-term storage facilities pose serious risks if they’re not properly pest-proofed and don’t engage in thorough inspection practices. In the case of consumer goods like chocolates, the depots in the supply chain could harbour almond moths and cause infestation in the products.

Retail and Consumer Level:

• Grocery Stores and Supermarkets:?Almond moth-infested products distributed to retailers can lead to almond moth problems in stores. As retail stores carry numerous susceptible products, an almond month infestation could easily spread across categories, leading to a store-wide infestation.
• Homes and Pantries:?Even consumers of products might unknowingly bring home infested products, allowing moths to establish within their homes. Alternatively, a resident infestation at a consumer home may cause an infestation of store-bought products.

Importance of Almond Moth Control Throughout the Food Supply Chain

Because the almond moth can appear at so many points within the food chain, integrated pest management (IPM) is crucial at every stage. Food brands must focus on the following important steps to control almond moth and other stored product pest (SPP) infestation in their products:

• Sanitation:?Maintaining rigorous cleaning standards at all parts of the food supply chain is important to remove product residues that could eventually become infested and a source for the spread of infestation.
• Inspections:?Regular visual monitoring for signs of almond moth infestation in harvested materials, warehouses, processing plants, vehicles, and retail products is a simple step to detect the occurrence of infested products.
• Pest Exclusion:?Product packaging is an important barrier that prevents insect larvae from accessing food products in consumer packs or bulk bags. Sealing potential harbourage to prevent the build-up of product residues in storage and transportation is also important.
• Pheromone trap monitoring: Almond moth pheromone traps are effective for monitoring male almond moths and indicate the pest presence and population level. Pheromone traps can be used throughout the food supply chain, from farm storage to retail stores and remain the most important Almond moth monitoring tool. Though the almond moth pheromone only attracts male moths, it is still useful to establish the pest’s presence.
• Targeted Treatments:?When needed, appropriate insect control methods, such as pesticide sprays on surfaces or product fumigation, are necessary to control an almond moth infestation. Infested food processing facilities and equipment can be heat treated to rid them of almond moths.

As we saw in the preceding account, almond moths could infest a food product from raw material to consumption at any stage of its supply chain.?

Hence, any chocolate brand must focus on ensuring that it has a comprehensive plan to monitor and act on the infestation status of its products.

Which parts of a supply chain do chocolate brands control? Any chocolate brand controls only its storage of raw materials, processing, storage of finished goods, and transportation.?

Though it is almost impossible to have zero infestation in chocolate processing, pheromone monitoring of almond moths indicates the extent of the pest.?

Pheromone trap records could serve as a due diligence defence in litigation involving infested chocolate products.

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What must chocolate brands do in the post-processing supply chain?

Vehicles are relatively easy to make infestation-free, primarily by cleaning and eliminating product residues that could feed insect pests.

At depots or other distribution points, chocolate products are in primary, secondary, and maybe even tertiary packaging, thus relatively safe from infestation.?

However, the prompt and effective handling of market returns and damaged goods is important as these are important infestation sources in a wide range of packaged food.?

Pheromone monitoring of storage is thus an important step in managing almond moth infestation.?

Reviewing inventory and disposal of old products is also important as a food’s susceptibility to infestation increases with storage duration.

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Chocolate instability in India’s traditional and modern retail: We have been reading about cross-infestation at traditional retailers causing insects in chocolate. However, the affected brand has no evidence to prove such a hypothesis.?

Though traditional retail stores indeed have open grains and other foods that sometimes become infested, almond moths are more likely to be found in highly processed and packaged foods, not grains and processed grain products.

Though modern retail (supermarkets and hypermarkets) are relatively cleaner, there is no guarantee of being a safeguard against almond moth infestation.?

Modern retail stores are more susceptible to infestation by processed foods like pet food, bird feed, breakfast cereals, biscuits, etc., which could cross-infest chocolates.

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How can chocolate brands safeguard their products post-processing? ?

The most important step for chocolate brands to secure their products against insects is switching to the most insect-resistant packaging.???

Also, distributors and retailers must be educated on quick disposal of damaged or infested products, which can become the loci of almond moth infestation.?

Consumers must be encouraged not to store opened and partly consumed chocolate, which becomes susceptible to infestation.

To answer the question in the article title, almond moths could occur anywhere in a chocolate product’s supply chain.?

By the simple steps we listed above, Indian chocolate brands can minimise insect infestation in chocolate.

Each time there is a consumer complaint of insects in chocolate, chocolate brands must thoroughly investigate it for the most likely point of occurrence.?

In India, we tend to blame only the retailers for chocolate infestation, which is unfair as chocolate could become infested anywhere after manufacture.?

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You can read the previous part of the Cadra Chronicles in The first article to reveal the identity of the ‘worms’ in Cadbury chocolates.

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