Stored Product Insects - They're EVERYWHERE!!!!

Feral populations of stored product insects occur in many places throughout the USA and abroad. If your food facility has any risk of infestation from a number of these insects, your IPM program and Risk Assessments MUST include Exterior Monitoring Systems. Don't you want to know what's lurking behind the bushes outside...? or in the case of the lead picture, What's hiding on this huge plot of land your food facility is located on?

-Indian meal moth (Plodia interpunctella) - The Worlds #1 Stored Product Insect. Found almost everywhere! In fact we have documented cases of homeowners having outside populations that have infested their homes.

-Warehouse beetle (Trogoderma variabile) - There are many Trogoderma species found throughout North America and the Warehouse beetle is the most suspect for infesting a food facility from the outside.

-Cigarette beetle (Lasioderma serricorne) Throughout my travels in Texas and the Southern States, I've jokingly called CB the official State Beetle... Found during the warmer seasons in mass. This insects is able to penetrate the smallest hole, gaining easy entry.

Of course we could go on and on about the many species and how they occur readily in nature. The main lesson here is if your food facility stores items deemed susceptible to infestation, you need to be monitoring the exterior of your facility. And "Yes" the roof counts as the Exterior!

There are many monitoring systems that can be deployed on the exterior of your facility. The ones used on the inside may not be "weather proof" enough to withstand the climate. My suggestion is to use products designed for exterior use.

Such as the below:

PHEROCON DELTA VI Trap designed to work in Pre-Harvest/Agricultural environments. Built for harsh use.

PHEROCON IC Trap

SQUEEZE & SNAP Trap - Designed for Multi-Species Fly and Yellow Jacket respectively but can be used to monitor for stored product moth and beetle with the appropriate pheromone lure. (Discard the included fly.yellow jacket kairomone lure)

Pheromone & Kairomone Lures

When conducting an exterior pheromone monitoring program, your main goal is very similar to an interior pheromone monitoring program.

#1: DETECTION - What if anything is here? What species? Where on the property?

#2: ABUNDANCE: How many of these things are there?

#3: VERIFICATION: What is around here that may be attracting or harboring these insects? Can we fix or change something to mitigate the insects? Is this just how it is here? Could a treatment even be made?

You do not need to be constantly monitoring using these systems on the exterior of the facility. What you are needing is the knowledge of what risks are out there. What insects "could" become a Stored Product Pest? What actions may need to be taken to reduce said risk? I generally suggest deploying an exterior monitoring systems program when a new account comes onboard, a few weeks prior to the annual risk assessment and before/after the warmer season begins for the region you are in.

IPM for the Modern Food Facility is all about RISK!!!! And we aren't going to Risk it anymore!

James F. Miller, ACE - Market Manager, PCO for Trece Inc.