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CONTROL AND PEST CONTROL OF THE FOODSTUFFS

The foodstuffs are agricultural produce or in detail goods for alimentary usage whether for the human beings or for the animals.

Pest control against the insects of foodstuffs is a process that must be done by specialized personnel that can predispose meticulous plans for controlling foodstuffs and the same places of production and Stockpile as creameries, pasta factories, and slaughterhouses and in big distribution centres for goods for alimentary usage.

Infesting insects of foodstuffs can damage both directly with the removal of products from the foodstuffs, or indirectly laying eggs and excreta that make foodstuffs useless or depreciable.

Therefore, the control operation centres basically on:

Information and knowledge of the insects, of their appearance and the biology, of the habit and the behaviour of the breeds most infesting of the foodstuffs
Knowledge of the tools of research and monitoring for verifying their presence
Knowledge of food processing industry, of the Maintenance of the establishment of a factory, of the cleaning programs and their methods of execution, internal climate, therefore the climate and the dampness.

The correct classification of the infesting breed is basically for understanding the typology of the infestation of foodstuffs.

Workers for the prevention and control against the infestation of foodstuffs consequently, must be able of fixing confidently the place of origin and the typology of the infestation:

If the infestation comes from the outside: it happens when protection systems are not in the condition of preventing the entrance of infesting insects of foodstuffs (the blades of the air, mosquito curtains, double-leaf door, entrance holes of the management of services, siphons, etc.).
If the infestation comes from the inside: this happens when in the inside of the establishment there are favourable conditions for the growing of the infesting insects of the foodstuffs.
If the infestation comes every now and then: usually this kind of infestation is provoked by the insects carried from the outside through other materials already infected, from personnel or other come into the establishment.

More infesting breeds belong to the order of diptera, Lepidoptera, coleopteran, arachnida.

Morphology, biology and habits of main infesting insects of foodstuffs:

Grain moth (lepidopteran) sitotroga cerealella: we can find it all over the world, and above all in hot and warms areas, depending on the environments and alimentary can have from 1 to 5 offsprings. It is a vermin of the foodstuffs of barley, grain, rice, corn and oat. It has the appearance of a butterfly with yellowish wings with a spread of 12-15mm.
Grey moth (lepidopteran) ephestia kuehniella: it is spread all over the world and also in Italy; the larvae attack and infest the goods of flour. The fully-grown insect is a grey coloured little butterfly about 10-14mm long. Only the larvae feed f grain and its outgrowth, bran, spices, dry fruit, and it is the most infesting insect of the mills. It has a life cycle of 60-90 days and the life of a fully-grown is of 15-30 days and also this lepidopteran, at favourable environment and dietary conditions, can give from 1 to 5 procreations.
Meal moth (lepidopteran) pyralis farinalis: it is spread all over the world, it likes damp ambients with the presence of Mildews, in fact, its presence is a sign of bad Maintenance of storehouses and deposits. This lepidopteran has the sight of a little butterfly with a spread of wings of 15-30mm, brown coloured front wings are spotted and pale brown in the middle sheath while, in the back part, they are smoke coloured. This lepidopteran, frm the very name, is a vermin of the flour goods.
Barry field moth (lepidopteran) plodia interpunctella: it is spread all over the world and in Italy, its natural habitat are the mills, the grain goods, bakeries and pasta factories, deposits and industries. The fully-grown insect that shows as a brown and grey coloured little buttefly, has a spread of wings of 15-20mm and has got a life cycle that, depending on food conditions, and on the ambient temperature, ranges from 25 to 130 days, while the life of the fully-grown is short and ranges from 5 to 15 days during which it does not feed. The larvae feed of a diversity of foodstuffs: starchy products, fruit, dry meat, oleaginous vegetable products, walnuts, sweets, cocoa and its derivative products and fodders for animals. They are good recognizable from their silky clothes that they spin, furthermore Lepidoptera are the insects that most of al infest the foodstuffs, the warehouses and food industries.
Moor buzzard (coleopteran) Ryzopertha dominica: It comes from the tropical areas and is afraid of cold temperatures even if it is achieved to arrange also at colder climates. Fully-grown insect lives 6-7 months, dark red coloured and it is long 2,5-3mm, can be distinguished by a sturdy prothorax that covers its head. It is a vermin of the grain goods, mills, pasta factories and bakeries, and its larvae feed of grain kernels, barley, corn rice, dry fruit in shell, sweets and also wood.
Woodworm of the tobacco (coleopteran) Lasioderma serricorne: it is a vermin of the tobacco goods and the spices, the larvae feed also of sturdy food; the life cycle has got a length that change from 30 to 90 days, while the life of the fully-grown insect, relatively short, comes from 15-30 days, it is dark red coloured and body with head form one only body, has wings and flies.
Woodworm of the bread (coleopteran) Stegobium paniceum: even this is an insect that attacks foodstuffs, mills, bakeries and pasta factories, but the larvae feed of all the dry substances of vegetable and also animal origin but, in its diet, are included also books and manuscripts. The life cycle has a during that comes from 2 to 4 months. The adult is longed about 2,5-3mm and is dark brown coloured, flies and lives from 5 to 50 days.
Meal-beetle (coleopteran) Tenebroides mauritanius: widespread all over the Italy, it is a vermin of grain goods and flour, it does not like the light and its environment are the storehouses and the deposits of grain. The adult is longed about 3mm and dark brown coloured. The larvae feed of the germ of the kernels penetrating into the deepest part. For the pest control of the goods and the storehouses, is important to know that the larvae of the meal-beetle hide also in the wood of the installations.
Trigoderm (coleopteran) trigoderma granarium: it is the most dangerous infesting insect of the foodstuff of grain and of the storehouses, known at global level and above all in the tropical areas where, thanks to the favourable climate, brings a lot of damages. The larvae known for their voraciousness, feed of flour, proteinic fours, oil-seed, grain cereals; besides the larvae are very damaging for the sloughs that leave and infect seriously the foodstuff. The fully-grown insect is longed 2-3mm, dark brown coloured, lives, according to the climate, from 5 days to a ot of months, it does not feed a lot and flies rarely. The life cycle lasts 30 days but, being very proliferous, the larvae are very Infesting.
Weevil (coleopteran) Sitophilus granarius: it is spread all over the world but particularly in the warm areas. It infests the grain goods, corn and rye but also nourish paste. Being an insect very proliferous it can cause a lot of damages to the goods of the storehouses and the food deposits, above all the silos of the grains. The fully-grown insect without the metathoraxic wings, does not fly and it is longed 3-4mm, dark grey coloured with a lengthened body. We can discern from the nourishment: the grain weevil, the rice weevil, the corn weevil.
Fruit fly (dipteran) Drosophila: it infests the goods of the enological centres, the beer and the juices. Its environment are in fact the fermentation substances where lays the eggs, they are very proliferous and the larvae feed ideally of yeast.
House-Fly (dipteran): also the house-Fly belongs to the infesting insects of the foodstuffs, particularly in the industries and the storehouses of sweet products, juices, and industries for the treatment of meal and sausages. House-Flies are very unhealthy for their dietary habits that comes from the sewage of every good of animal or vegetable origin, also in decomposition, to sweet liquids, excreta, organic putrescent deposits etc. becoming a carrier of dangerous pathogen.
Mite of the flour (Arachnida) acarus siro, acarus immobili, acarus farris: we can usually find them in the country and normally live in the birds’ nest orchid, in the burrows of the Mouses, but they are Infesting also of the grain goods, cereals not worked, chicken-feeds, and flours and are particularly dangerous and damaging for the mills. The presence of great infestation of mites of flour in the foodstuff causes an unpleasant smell for the excreta and sloughs that frees in the material, becoming it useless and not only, their presence causes illness and dermatitis.
Turophagus putrescentiae (Arachnida): from the very name this Mite is between the most damaging for the foodstuff, its habitat are those products full of fats and proteins as cheese, ham, seeds of linen, peanuts, powdered eggs. Also in this chance, the presence of a great infestation of foodstuffs induce abd smells, illness and dermatitis making the material infested and useless.

The insects that infest the goods are a great diversity and as much a lot of goods infested, from the flour of cereals to wood and to perishable materials. The main problem that helps the appearance and the infestation of the goods is the hygiene in the industries, during the treatment, the Stockpile and the storage.