Taking care of food quality and safety is extremely important at every stage of the supply chain, starting from production plants to food distribution companies. However, it is not only about choosing the right packaging or ensuring appropriate storage conditions, protection against pests is equally important. But how to secure the inventory of a store or warehouse? What are the legal regulations regarding food safety and pest management?

Why is protecting food against pests so important?

Food products, especially when they are not well protected, attract various types of insects and rodents, which may then cause destruction and contamination of the goods, but may also transmit pathogenic microorganisms. Appropriate security of a plant or warehouse is therefore crucial to ensuring the safety and quality of food products, and thus to avoiding financial losses. Moreover, if contaminated products are introduced to the market, the company's image will also suffer, and if it happens as a result of negligence or conscious action, legal consequences are also possible.

Pest protection – legal requirements

Using effective security systems in plants and warehouses makes sense financially and image-wise, but it is also a legal obligation. According to the regulations in force in Poland, there is an obligation to:

  • implementation of the HACCP system (Threat analysis and critical control points) for entities involved in food production, processing and trade.
  • implementation of GMP systems (Good Manufacturing Practice) and G.H.P (Good Hygienic Practice) for plants engaged in primary food production.

The purpose of introducing the above systems is to comprehensively ensure food safety, also in terms of protection against pests, through:

  • maintaining cleanliness in the place of food production and storage,
  • application of security measures protecting the plant against pests,
  • monitoring the presence of pests and effectiveness of the security measures used,
  • combating existing threats using safe means that will not affect the quality of the food.

Pests in the food industry – what are the biggest threats and how to deal with them?

Before planning and implementing security measures, it is worth taking a closer look at what pests we may encounter while operating in the food industry. This is important because implementing effective protective measures in your facility will be easier when you understand how specific types of pests can get into your facility.

The most common pests encountered by food producers and distributors include:

  • rodents,
  • flying insects,
  • running insects,
  • grain pests,
  • birds,
  • pets.

How to protect food against pests?

The details of the pest protection system should, of course, be each time adapted to the specificity of a given plant, among the recommendations that should be taken into account, however, we will find, among others:

  • a ban on bringing animals into the plant premises,
  • securing all potential routes through which pests can enter the plant, e.g. ventilation, drains, and sealing doors and windows;
  • ensuring cleanliness in the plant and regular removal of garbage, production waste and residues of stored products,
  • controlling the condition of food delivered to the plant,
  • cooperation with reliable suppliers.

How often should the condition of the warehouse where food is stored be checked?

It brings the best results controlling food safety on a continuous basis. This means introducing solutions and procedures that will allow for ongoing monitoring of the effectiveness of the applied security measures and detecting the presence of pests at or immediately after their appearance on the plant premises, which will enable quick reaction and taking steps to combat them.

How to get rid of pests from food storage?

There are no effective solutions in 100%, so it is possible that pests will appear in the plant despite the safeguards used. How to deal with them? The most effective way is to cooperate with a professional company providing DDD services (disinfestation, rodent control, disinfection) - this is a good solution because specialists in this field not only know how to effectively fight pests, but will also be able to select agents and methods that are safe for use in food production and storage plants.

As an experienced food distributor, we have practical knowledge in taking care of the condition of our warehouses, the quality of the products offered and conditions during transport. We also attach great importance to the origin of the articles we receive - we only cooperate with reliable producers and suppliers. All this makes choosing MPT Stanro you gain a guarantee of high quality!