A Newsletter for the Insect Control & Pest Management Industry, est. 1981

Transcription

1 Let us know if you would like Let to receive us know this if you newsletter would like electronically. to receive this newsletter electronically. Issue 120 Fall 2016 Routing: A Newsletter for the Insect Control & Pest Management Industry, est BadBugs... Indian Meal Moth Indian Meal MothM Alain VanRyckeghem, BCE Technical Director What is the most critical damage caused by Indian meal moths individually or as a whole? Indian meal moths (IMM) either directly consume the stored food product, (bird seed, pet foods, candy bars etc.) and contaminate it with their presence, webbing, and waist products, or they indirectly contaminate product (food and nonfood) in storage from wandering larvae in search of pupation sites. One infested package of product can be a source of larvae that search out other food products to continue feeding or usually to pupate on the surface or interior spaces of the packages. Perfectly sealed packages that contain baby formula, for example, may have no infestation, but the presence of larvae on the container will cause consumer complaints and rejection of the product. This is essentially collateral damage from another food product. Why is monitoring for IMM crucial, and what is the best way to monitor? Monitoring for IMM is designed to be an early warning system. Detection of a couple of moths early in the season can help prevent or reduce further outbreaks during the summer and fall. Traps with sex pheromones to attract male moths are a tool that can operate 24 hours 7 days a week and can be placed in any environment. Placement can be in a grid system to detect recent invasions or can be targeted (concentrated) to monitor selected storage areas or help pinpoint the infestation. Moth traps need to be monitored weekly, due to the trap s short life cycle. The objective is to detect sudden rises in catch rates indicating a recent introduction of infested product or a sanitation issue that has been overlooked. Lure and traps are to be replaced according to manufacturer s recommendation which is usually 8 weeks. All traps and lures should be replaced at the same time. Do not stagger the replacement schedule as this leads to old lures stationed beside new lures, resulting in misinterpretation of the source infestations. continued on page 5 35th Anniversary Sale from Insects Limited 35% Discount on Indian Meal Moth Pheromone Traps & Lures* Retail sales only. Expires 12/31/2016.

2 Fumigants & Pheromones Page 2 Nestle Purina Pet Care Food Safety Symposium by Tom Mueller Sales Manager Food Safety and Pet Food Protection What is Downstream Collaboration? Let s take the Nestle Purina Pet Care Food Safety Symposium as an example. 120 members of the pet food manufacturer s supply chain gathered in downtown St. Louis, MO for 3 days in September. After nearly 20 years of hosting this symposium, Kim Kemp (Director of Food Safety), Alexandria Hammel (QA Specialist), and Stefan Goodis (Program Manager) of Nestle Purina have perfected downstream collaboration by inviting experts of stored product pests and the food safety industry to speak to the elite crowd of 120 people about how to protect the brand they have worked so hard to establish. Among the attendees were representatives from Nestle Purina supply chain distribution, warehousing, manufacturing, retail, and professionals hired to manage pest control. They gathered to absorb information on how to protect their facilities from stored product pests and food pathogens. Everyone was encouraged to take the valuable information and implement it in their own food safety programs. Congratulation s Mr. Kim Kemp is the Director of Food Safety for Nestle Purina in St. Louis. Kim has helped organized and sponsor a Food Safety Symposium each year for the past 20 years. Kim Kemp and the Purina Food Safety Team for training 1000 s of pest management professionals over the past 20 years. You have made a difference. New ZIKA Treatment Standards United States Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Services (FAS) Update on China s Requirements for shipment from ZIKA-INFECTED Countries This information is from the FAS understanding of China s measures impacting goods exported from the United States with regard to control of Zika virus, as of August 19, This is not official USDA guidelines regarding compliance with China s new policies for shipments from Zika-affected counties. Please bear in mind that this information may change as further clarifications and updates are made available to FAS from counterparts, and industry stakeholders clarify implementation of the new requirements and minimize potential trade disruptions. BACKGROUND Chinese authorities require all cargo originating from the United States to provide proof of disinfection upon arrival at the Chinese port, either air or sea. This applies to all vessels that left the United States on or after August 5, with the exception of containers kept at or under temperatures of 15 C (59 F). Disinfection treatment may be carried out by physical or chemical means and does not require fumigation. Chemical means could include surface spraying, space spraying, or fumigation, depending on the shipper s choice. PHOTO: heart to heart Treatment can be carried out at any point during the shipping process. For example, it is acceptable for containers to be disinsected before loading, certified as mosquito free, then loaded in a mosquito-free environment. China s policy applies to Zika and yellow fever and will remain in effect until March 2017, subject to adjustment or renewal depending on the situation. For more information about fumigating containers and FAQs on this new international quarantine policy, go to or call Source: USDA

3 Page 3 Fumigants & Pheromones Dave s Soapbox for what it s worth Pest management is not what you see but also what you don t see. As you walk into a room, with no preconceived idea what type of pest issue exists, it is important to train yourself to look for the unseen. by David Mueller Does the building have positive or negative pressure? Does the roof ever leak? Is the temperature warm and moist or cool and dry? Insects are a symptom of a condition. If you offer them the ideal temperature, food, and harborage they will thrive, many times reproducing hundreds of offspring in four to six weeks. If you take one of those conditions away, you may still have insect pests but they may not thrive. If you take all of these ideal conditions away they will die or go away. That is pest management in its purest sense. We as humans often have a hard time imagining what an ideal condition is for an 1/8-in. beetle or 1/4-in. moth that has evolved differently than we humans. But in fact it is somewhat the same: sex, food, harborage, and moderate temperatures. The food source can be as little as a dusty surface, where flour beetles graze like cattle on grass, or spoiled food trapped in a drainage pipe, where fruit flies are reproducing at a rate of hundreds a week. Temperature is the one factor that can accelerate insect growth and development. For every 10 degrees Celsius you get a doubling of respiration and activity. So from 10 C (50 F) to 18 C (64 F) to 30 C (86 F) to 35 C (95 F) you get a 16-fold increase in insect activity. Like insects, humans become stressed in hot weather. Place an insect in your hand for a few minutes. Watch it increase in What s the temperature in all sections of this warehouse in the winter months? Why are the pheromone traps empty? activity as it warms. This stressed activity can help the pest manager increase mortality faster with less insecticide or fumigants. Harborage: insects can live outside and inside. Native populations of Indian meal moths are an example of how this Public Enemy #1 can contaminate a grain bin, a food or seed warehouse with the doors open while loading trucks, or your garage and infest stored bird seed or pet food. If you want to find out if you have outdoor pest insects, place a pheromone trap in a tree or fence line and check it for yourself. As you perform your job of lowering customer complaints, start looking at things differently. For example, what if you check a pheromone trap and it is empty. What does that mean? Are there no pest insects in this area? Or does it mean that the insects that the pheromone trap is targeting flying moths or moths that are present but not flying yet. Are the lights on or off? Are there spider webs or no spider webs? Are there trails in the dust or no trails? At about 18 C (about 64 F) the temperature in the warehouse or storage bin is less than 64 F. Pest managers create dozens of small oases under outdoor rodent bait stations and can t see them. Moisture and organic debris seep under these bait stations and attract a multitude of miscellaneous insects and arthropods. Look under a bait station and see for yourself. These oases can be eliminated by simply moving the traps 1 foot away from the environment under which they are thriving. This is especially true in the hot summer months when moisture is scarce. Poor Recordkeeping: So often I see that a technician has written a check on a pheromone trap that states: 0-4, 5-9 or 10 or more. Really! I was in a multi-million-dollar court case where this type of poor record keeping was used. The warehouse was said to be 68 F in Texas (year around). The pheromone traps were capturing beetles. In some areas 10 continued on page 5 V I S I T U S A T :

4 Fumigants & Pheromones Page 4 Brownies With Bugs Meerhoff Retiring Victoria Meerhoff is taking an early retirement from FSS. She is leaving to take care of her aging father in Florida. As part of the Girl Scout Brownies program, Troop 821 from Westfield, Indiana spent an afternoon with Insects Limited Entomologist Pat Kelley to earn their Bug Badges. The badges show that they have accomplished a journey in research and discussion on the topic of insects. The girls learned about the benefits and detriments of insects on our lives. Part of the program named Good Bugs, Bad Bugs and... Big Bugs included interaction of the Brownies with live tarantulas and giant millipedes. Troop leader Tamrynne Eblen stated that the girls loved the presentation and had a blast participating. We at Insects Limited are happy to play a small part in educating these future entomologists! Foodborne Illness There are approximately 76 million cases of food-related illness in the United States each year. There are also about 325,000 hospitalizations and 5,000 deaths. Under-developed countries experience about one billion cases annually and four to six million deaths. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) estimates that 97 percent of all cases of food-borne illness come from improper food handling. Most of these (79%) are from commercial establishments, while the other 21 percent originate in the home. Victoria Meerhoff has been the shipping manager for FSS since Many of you have spoken to Victoria over the years to place an order, ask current pricing for pest management products, check on an order, or ask questions about the use of a certain product. Dave Mueller, President of FSS stated: Victoria was great with the customers. Many would call and ask for her specifically. We will miss Victoria and her two girls that we have watched grow up. FSS Now Hiring Go to FumigationZone.com to fill out an application. FSS is hiring licensed fumigation technicians, a shipping manager, and individuals who can offer quality pest management in stored product protection.

5 Page 5 Fumigants & Pheromones Two New Product Guides Available Fumigation Service & Supply has its new product guide available as a 24-page, full-color, and easy-to-read booklet. The electronic edition can be found online at Jeff Waggoner, general manager for FSS, said, We have highlighted categories in Fumigation, Fogging, Monitoring, Insecticides, Pest Control, and Safety. Insects Limited has completed its newest product guide also. This 16-page full-color and fully illustrated booklet comes both hard copy and online at It contains stored product pheromone kits and lures. Tom Mueller from Insects Limited said, This new product guide includes several new pheromones and the new All Beetle Trap. Contact us at or for your new catalog or click on the websites. Bad Bugs continued from page 1 What are the steps that should be taken if IMM are detected? If IMM are detected, inspection of product near the monitors with most activity is necessary. Flashlight inspections to find active larvae, webbing, and food spills are the primary goals of the inspection. Detection of insect activity will require movement and segregation of the product for further action. This may include cleaning, disassembly, fumigation or disposal. Pallets with insect activity should be covered with a PE pallet cover before moving to reduce accidental dispersal to uninfested areas. Sanitation issues should be cleaned up and discarded outdoors in an approved dumpster system. Continue monitoring traps at the area of original activity and adjacent traps. Further activity will require repeated inspections. How can IMM moth infestations be prevented? The first line of defense to prevent infestation of a facility is to stop infested materials from being accepted at the receiving areas. This requires receivers to be aware of the presence of webbing on boxes or bags, live and dead larvae in the stretch wrap, and live moths flying out of the trailer or off a pallet. These are clear signs of activity and should not be ignored. Detailed inspection can locate these products with activity and should be rejected. The potential use of a pheromone trap in the trailer placed by the vendor at the time of shipment can also give an early warning to the receiver if this trailer has moth activity. Is there anything else I should be aware of about IMM activity? Indian meal moths are temperature dependent. Moth flight and reproduction usually does not occur when the environment is below 64 F. The absence of Indian meal moths in pheromone traps in cool warehouses or cold trailers during shipment is not a fool proof way of determining if moths are present or if larvae are actively feeding on stored product in storage. At these times, a proactive inspection program by the PMP or in house sanitarian is recommended. Dave s Soapbox continued from page 3 or more per week per trap. During the court proceedings I ask the question: What does 10 or more mean? They could not provide an answer. Was it 11 or was it a 1000! They lost the case. It is what you don t see that is what is important. I recommend removing the captured insects every week and don t write on the trap anything except the date the pheromone lures were placed. Period! Finally, practice this when you drive your car down the highway. When the temperatures are above F insects hit the windshield. When it is lower, they are not flying. So when you hit a bug on your windshield, think pest management and how the insects are becoming active in your facilities and homes. One of my favorite days of the year is when I see my first insect hitting the windshield. I shout for joy because the cycle begins again!! V I S I T U S A T :

6 Fumigants & Pheromones Page Fumigation On Tuesday, November 29, Tuesday, December 6, and Thursday, December 8, Insects Limited in cooperation with Fumigation Service & Supply will host continuing education Fumigation Workshops. NOVEMBER 29 WESTFIELD, IN FSS Training Facility Westfield Park Rd 8:00 am Registration 8:30 am New Federal Certification Guidelines (1 hour) Leo Reed Indiana State Chemist Office, Purdue University 9:30 am Phosphine Grain Fumigation Review (1 hour) Pete Mueller Regional Manager, Fumigation Service & Supply, Heyworth, IL 10:30 am Grain Storage IPM (1 hour) Quinn Schroeder 11:30 am Bed Bug Fumigation & Scrubbers (1 hour) James Feston, Entomologist Insects Limited Inc., Indianapolis, IN 12:30 pm Lunch provided (30 minutes) 1:00 pm Stored Product Insects A Moving Target (1 hour) Alain VanRyckeghem, BCE Insects Limited, Inc., Indianapolis, IN 2:00 pm Managing Phosphine Resistance (1 hour) Ethan Estabrook, BCE 3:00 pm Break (15 minutes) 3:15 pm Fumigant Safety Update (0.5 hour) Ryan Yutzy 3:45 pm Accidents & Injuries with Fumigants (0.5 hour) David Mueller, BCE Insects Limited Inc., Indianapolis, IN 4:15 pm Practical Pheromone Programs (1 hour) Tom Mueller Insects Limited Inc., Indianapolis, IN 5:15 pm Sign out for fumigation credits and receive certificate of attendance DECEMBER 6 BLOOMINGTON, IL Asmark Building Carole Dr 8:00 am Registration 8:30 am Phosphine Grain Fumigation (1 hour) Pete Mueller Fumigation Service & Supply, Heyworth, IL 9:30 am Rules and Regulations Update Case studies from the real world (1 hour) Curt Colwell, Ph.D Illinois Department of Public Health, Entomologist Springfield, IL 10:30 am Food Protection Update (1 hour) David Barnes Bunge Milling, Danville, IL 11:30 am Retail Pest Management (1 hour) Alexandria Hammel, BCE Nestle Purina PetCare, St.Louis, MO 12:30 pm Lunch provided (30 minutes) 1:00 pm Grain Storage IPM (1 hour) Quinn Schroeder 2:00 pm Managing Phosphine Resistance (1 hour) Ethan Estabrook, BCE 3:00 pm Break (15 minutes) 3:15 pm Fumigant Safety Update (0.5 hour) Ryan Yutzy 3:45 pm Structure Fumigations with Sulfuryl Fluoride (1 hour) Jeff Waggoner, ACE 5:00 pm Sign out for fumigation credits and receive certificate of attendance

7 Page 7 Fumigants & Pheromones Workshops This full-day program is for anyone wanting to improve his/her fumigation knowledge. Whether you are just getting started and would like information from experienced fumigators to help you pass your exam, or you are a seasoned fumigator needing to pick up some credits toward your license, this program is for you. DECEMBER 8 FINDLAY, OH University of Findlay 1000 N Main St REGISTRATION COST: $165 per person before November 9; $185 per person after November 10 (Discounts on 4 or more from the same company. Seating is limited, so register early.) 8:00 am Registration 8:30 am Phosphine Fumigation Update (1 hour) Jeff Waggoner, ACE 9:30 am Export Fumigations (1 hour) Josh Wilhelm, ACE 10:30 am Food Safety & FSMA (1 hour) Janice M. Levenhagen, Director Food Safety Mennel Milling Co, Fostoria, OH 11:30 am Grain Storage IPM (1 hour) Quinn Schroeder 12:30 pm Lunch provided (30 minutes) 1:00 pm Practical Pheromone Programs (1 hour) Tom Mueller Insects Limited, Inc, Indianapolis, IN 2:00 pm Managing Phosphine Resistance (1 hour) Ethan Estabrook, BCE 3:00 pm Fumigant Safety Update (0.5 hour) Jordan Riviera 3:30 pm Organic Fumigations & Scrubbers (0.5 hour) James Feston, Entomologist Insects Limited, Inc, Indianapolis, IN 4:00 pm Structure Fumigations with Sulfuryl Fluoride (1 hour) Jeff Waggoner, ACE 5:00 pm Sign out for fumigation credits and receive certificate of attendance Name Company Address Phone Date Attending Payment Information [ ] Check Credit Card: [ ] MasterCard [ ] VISA [ ] AMX Number Name on Card Signature Expiration Date Please return this form via fax Continuing Education Credits have been applied for in AR, IN, IL, KY, TN, MI, MO, OH, and WI. V I S I T U S A T :

8 Fumigants & Pheromones Page 8 Tennessee Charter #4849 Fumigants & Pheromones is published by Fumigation Service & Supply, Inc. and Insects Limited, Inc. We hope that the information that you receive from this newsletter will help you in your business, and you, in turn, will support our business efforts. If you have an associate who would be interested in receiving this newsletter, please contact the address below. We would welcome any comments or suggestions for topics. Address correspondence to: Peggy Rutkowski, Fumigation Service & Supply, Inc., Westfield Park Rd., Westfield, IN USA. Fumigation Service & Supply, Inc Westfield Park Road Westfield, IN USA (1) insectsltd@aol.com websites: websites: Tennessee Charter #4849 Presorted Standard U.S. Postage PAID Indianapolis, IN Permit #9555 Copyright 2016 Insects Limited, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted by any means without permission of the editor. Attention Mailroom Personnel (or Addressee) Please Reroute if Necessary CALENDAR OF EVENTS We hope to see you there: October 18-21, 2016 National Pest Management Asso., Seattle, WA November 29, 2016 Fumigation Workshop, Westfield, IN December 30 - December 2 Global Bed Bug Summit, Indianapolis, IN December 6, 2016 Fumigation Workshop, Bloomington, IL December 8, 2016 Fumigation Workshop, Findley, OH January 10, st Annual Purdue Pest Management Conference, West Lafayette, IN Speakers from FSS and IL: Fumigation Update: Jeff Wagoner, Pete Mueller, Ryan Yutzy --James Feston, Use of Pheromones) February 14-15, 2017 Wisconsin Pest Control Association Spring Training; Tom Mueller, The Basic Use of Pheromone s June 11-14, th Fumigants & Pheromone s Conference/Workshops, Indianapolis USA