Operations, Professional

2Operations

General Food Safety Procedures

2630

1» to your credit

Nutrition Communications & Marketing

FFive of five foodservice operators agree: Pests are more than a pesky problem in cafeteria settings. They are a truly dangerous menace. A significant aspect of providing healthy meals to our nation’s children means keeping those meals safe from contaminants—and pests (such as rats, mice, cockroaches, flies, ants and birds) all track in their own brand of disease-causing germs. While you assuredly already have well-practiced pest management protocols in place in your storage, prep, service and dining areas, understanding the context and the steps together is important to ensure the team follows procedures.

Know Your Enemy By Rachel O’Connell

www.schoolnutrition.org | SN | 71www.schoolnutrition.org | SN | 71

Making the grade in your profession

3Administration

» A pest-by-pest refresher on why and how to banish the wee beasties from your facilities.

4

Earn 1 CEU in the

designated Key area and Key

Topic Code noted above

Ready to get started? The first step to track-ing and preventing foodborne illnesses brought in by pesky pests is: Know your enemy. That is why SN has compiled a dossier of each critter and culprit—a “rat” sheet, if you will—to help you catch more flies (and other pests) with anything but honey! But remember to always consult your site’s building manager (or principal or custodian) before adopting any new pest eradication methods.

OH, RATS! Do you smell a rat? Bad news—not just for you, but for your operation. If your customers get a whiff (or wink) of one of those

whiskered varmints, you know the word will be out faster than...well, the flick of a rat’s tail.

Besides unsettling guests with their trade-marked iron teeth and beady eyes, rats have some unique characteristics you might want to keep in mind:

» Though larger than mice, they are not as large as people fear them to be—or as often depicted in the movies. (No, they are not the size of a small cat.) Rats are usually between 12-19 ounces and are about 10 inches long, with an additional 10 inches for their tails.

» Some scientists classify rats as the third

age mouse can fit into an opening the size of a dime!

» Unlike suspicious rats, mice are curious—and forgetful. They will not only take bait right away, they forget about the danger of bait and traps, so they will continue to visit locations where those are set up. Their curiosity can easily become boredom after a few days, however, so make sure to clean up droppings by wetting them first (dust from dry pellets is a contaminant) and replace fresh bait after a week, so the mice have renewed curiosity for that specific location.

A good overall pest-control strategy, whatever rodent irks your operation, is to make sure the space is cleared of clutter inside and out! Remember, mice and rats are carriers of diseases like hantavirus and salmonellosis. They also can spread typhus. So nip those rodents in the bud and make sure your K-12 school meal programs are quiet of the skittery, scratchy sounds, sans a single mouse.

CREEPY COCKROACHES One pest that’s arguably more vexing than all the rest? The ubiquitous cockroach.

» The most common forms of cock-roach in foodservice establishments are the German and brown-banded, which are known as “colonizers”—meaning that, once they find a location they prefer (such as a nice, warm kitchen with plenty of yummy crumbs), they don’t leave until someone makes them. And they can establish large colonies very quickly.

» The other types of roaches are known as “invaders”: they only come inside if they have to (for instance, if

72 | SN | April 2018

Furthermore, if you want to prevent a rat from entering a place you’d rather they stay out of—ahem, everywhere—galvanized steel, steel mesh or glass barriers ought to do the trick. We are not kidding about those strong jaws.

MICE AIN’T NICE How many dif-ferences can there really be between members of the rodent family? There are quite a few between mice and rats, actually. While they are both good at avoiding predators (i.e. you), and both tend to leave the same tell-tale signs of residency (gnaw damage, burrows, tracks, urine stains, droppings, etc.), mice are a completely different species—the average house mouse is Mus musculus and the common brown rat is known as Rattus norvegi-cus. These different species, therefore, have equally different characteristics, requiring distinct methods of control.

» While mice, like rats, have been known to gnaw, their unique destruc-tive attributes include shedding a delicate dander that can cause allergy and asthma attacks in both students and employees.

» As smaller creatures, mice are able to fit into places that rats cannot. By collapsing their rib cages, the aver-

“most-successful” mammal on earth, after humans and mice. They are among the ultimate survivors and have been found on every continent except Antarctica.

» They are very intelligent—their mental capacities have been equated with canines.

» Due to that intelligence, they are very suspicious in nature and are unlikely to be easily fooled or tempted by many traps. Still, it is always best to use baits with rats—not only because sprays are problematic in a foodser-vice environment, but because baits are easily controlled. And rats require the long-game approach. First, start with a non-lethal bait. Then, gradually introduce lethal, slow-acting poisons. Slow-acting is important, because rats will not only observe their fellows to see how they react to a particular bait trap, they actually use the smallest and weakest rats as taste-testers!

» What’s not an urban legend? It turns out that rats do travel by sewer pipe. Part of the reason for this is that, unlike mice, rats require a nearby water source. Eliminating free-standing water sources inside and outside your facility will go a long way to solving a rat problem.

Rats are among the ultimate

survivors and have been found on

every continent except Antarctica.

www.schoolnutrition.org | SN | 73

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Address: _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

City / State / Zip: _________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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TEST COMPLETION & SUBMISSION DETAILS

To earn 1 Continuing Education Credit (CEU) toward SNA’s Certificate/Credentialing programs for this professional development article (PDA) test, you must achieve a passing score and the issue date (April 2018) must not be older than five (5) years from your Certificate/Credentialing period. A maximum of three (3) PDAs per year is allowable for SNA’s Certificate in School Nutrition program. There is no maxi-mum of passing PDAs for those with the SNS Credential, submitted within the three-year period.

To pay by check: Mail this completed form before your expiration date. Include $11 (SNA Members) or $17 (non-members) for processing to: SNA, Attn: PDA, PO Box 759297, Baltimore, MD 21275-9297. Do not send cash!

To pay by credit card: Pay for and take the test online at www.schoolnutrition.org/OnlinePDAs. Processing fees for tests completed online are $9 (SNA Members) or $15 (non-members).

Due to administrative costs, refunds will not be made for any reason.

”Know Your Enemy”

Completion of this test, with a passing score,

will count as 1 Continuing Education Unit (CEU) in

Key Area 2, Food Safety, Code 2630.

2Operations

General Food Safety Procedures

2630

Go to: www.schoolnutrition.org/OnlinePDAs

» the test

1. Common “pests” in many foodservice facilities include ___.n cats

n flies

n unruly teens

n all of the above

2. __ is the best way to eradicate rats in your operation.n A quick-acting spray

n Slow-acting bait

n A tomcat

n None—I like rats

3. __ are curious and forgetful.n Rats

n Elephants

n Mice

n All of the above

4. Mice can fit into a dime-sized opening.n True

n False

5. Both rats and mice can be carriers of ___.n hantavirus

n AIDS

n psoriasis

n all of the above

6. In foodservice establishments, ___ cockroaches are common.n German

n brown-banded

n colonizer

n all of the above

7. Cockroaches do the work for you by ___.n feeding bait to their own young

n leaving once they smell poison

n paying rent

n helping to cook and serve meals

8. Flies are annoying but otherwise harmless in foodservice settings. n True

n False

9. ___ is the first stage of a fly’s lifecycle.n Pupae

n Maggot

n Egg

n Adult

10. Your school garden should be protected against rabbits, which are also considered pests.n True

n False

You can take this test online and pay by credit card.

SAVE A STAMP!

their habitat is suddenly disturbed).» Cockroaches are a catch-all horror

for the foodservice environment: They carry bacteria, disease and allergens. And they look plain creepy.

» They are small enough to hide in cracks and crevices, not to mention able to skitter around with agile speed.

» To eradicate roaches, sprays are very tempting, but bait is, again, best. This is because the tiny invertebrates do half the work for you by ingesting carefully laid bait, carrying it back to their colonies, and defecating—which baby cockroaches then eat. Revolting, yes, but important, because in one fell swoop, you eliminate multiple genera-tions of pestilence, giving you plenty of time to laugh, wash your hands and en-joy a victory lunch. While this common bug might be able to survive a nuclear blast, we know it won’t be surviving your food safety efforts.

FLY AWAY! Time... er, flies when you’re keeping your kitchen space free from bothersome bugs. And this next pest is sure to get your

antennae up: It’s the relentless fly. » Able to sneak through virtually

any crevice, crack or opening, flies are exceedingly difficult to control. And they thrive in waste, which foodservice environments cannot help but produce.

» Flies begin as eggs, hatching into maggots, which then feed on wet mat-ter (found in many places, like trash or sink drains). Then, fat and well-fed, they pupate and leave the pupae as adult flies.

» Though most types of flies in a foodservice setting (including fruit, bottle and black) do not bite, they need to be given attention. Why? Anything ingested by a fly is liquefied by the insect’s saliva or vomit. Additionally, their high food intake requires a rate of near-constant defecation. Therefore, flies—all flies—are nearly always either vomiting or defecating. Whenever they land on a surface, like a counter top, a ceiling fan, or your arm, they leave an

rior light traps, should make sure that flies no longer get the time of your day.

NO RESERVATIONS These are certainly not the only pests to guard against. Depending on the time of year and your geographic location, your foodservice facilities might be visited by ants, moths, beetles, birds and/or stinging pests like wasps or hornets. The food stored in your school nutri-tion operation is such a temptation, it is important to be vigilant for any and all bothersome beasts—including larger vermin like rabbits, especially if you run a school garden.

In the face of each creepy, crawly, pesterer, it’s tempting to sling on your soft boots, derby hat and go hunting “wabbits”—and other varmints—but the best course, per this article, is to educate yourself. Use the characteristics and inherent habits of each specimen against them in order to win the day. Be sure that your pest control steps are developed in concert with an entire food safety plan that addresses many other sources of potential trouble. When you keep your eye on the big food safety picture, you will do more than merely control pests in your school nutrition departments—you will prevent them. SN

Rachel O’Connell is SN’s editorial assistant.

cough, on the fly, focus on contain-ing the issue as larvae—when they are infinitely more sluggish. Regularly clean all wet organic matter from your kitchen space. This, coupled with inte-

74 | SN | April 2018

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unsanitary trail behind. This brings a whole new meaning to the term “drop-ping like flies.”

» Now that you are sufficiently disturbed, the good news is that flies are easier to control than they seem. Rather than chasing the adults around,

Know Your EnemyFaced with troublesome ants, rabbits,

wasps and more? This month’s online web extras feature some advice for controlling these types of pests in your foodservice

operation.

Visit www.schoolnutrition.org/ snmagazinebonus to access.

BONUS WEB CONTENT