Understanding the Connection Between Food Safety and Pests

By Dr. James E. Sargent  

Most people donıt understand the connection between pests and food safety, but pests are second only to humans in contaminating food.

While people are encouraged to wash their hands before handling food to prevent contamination, pests donıt wash their feet, which can be full of foodborne pathogens, before walking on food or food contact surfaces. They also donıt go to the restroom for their excretions, which are loaded with foodborne pathogens. Just the presence of insects (e.g., cockroaches, flies, ants, etc.), rodents (e.g., mice, rats, etc.), birds, or other pests provides the potential for food safety disaster that can risk the future of your company and its employees.

Insects are poikilotherms, which means they are unable to maintain a constant body temperature and instead take on the temperature of their surroundings. That means as the temperature goes up so does the number of pests and the pressures upon food facilities. The warmer weather also means insects are more active including eating, defecating, reproducing, dispersing, infesting, damaging, contaminating and everything else.

As summer progresses, there are many more insects (and other pests) outdoors that could end up indoors and contaminate food. Thatıs why contaminated food and cases of foodborne illness tend to increase during warm weather. However, most people donıt realize this correlation. But, that is exactly why pest exclusion, prevention, and control are especially critical during the summer. 

NPMA Technical Update: The Opossum  

In addition to keeping their babies in a pouch, opossums are known to carry ectoparasites like ticks and fleas with them, too.  As if you needed any more reasons to keep your distance, opossums have been implicated in transmitting tularemia to humans and can harbor a variety of nasty pathogens like murine typhus, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, leptospirosis, and relapsing fever.  Rabies are actually rarely reported in opossums, but remain a possibility.  
 

Opossums have a varied diet, including insects, fruits, vegetables, garbage, and pet food, but prefer feeding on carrion when available.  Foraging opossums have been known to frighten outdoor pets, and the response of dogs and cats may be one of the first signs your customers notice.  When threatened, opossums respond in two distinctly different ways: either by hissing and baring their teeth, or playing dead (complete with lying on their back with their tongue hanging out) until the threat is gone.  
 

Control of opossums around structures centers on exclusion, sanitation, habitat modification, and live trapping. As with all other wildlife, poisoning is not allowed within Ontario. If opossums have been found to be present and feeding in an area, but you are unsure if they have a den on the property, securing potential food sources (like pet food and garbage cans) is a good place to start. Opossums are often nomadic and may move on if food and water are no longer present. If you have determined that one or more opossums are established on a customer's property, consider your next options thoroughly before proceeding.  

Tiny Insects Are Munching Into Farm Profits 

LFP Press, July 7, 2014 (Ontario)

They're small but mighty, and they're wreaking havoc on wheat fields in Southwestern Ontario. Farmers from Sarnia to Strathroy are battling the cereal leaf beetle, a pest that could pose a serious threat to this year's wheat crop. Read more...

Potentially Dangerous Ticks Spreading in SW Ontario 

St Thomas Times Journal, July 3, 2014 (Ontario)

The number of blacklegged ticks in Southwestern Ontario appears to be on rise, based on the results of testing on ticks collected by or submitted to health units. Read more...