Why Every Restaurant in India Needs Regular Pest Control – FSSAI Requirements Explained

Cockroaches

Cockroaches are the most common pests found in restaurants.

• Cockroaches breed in warm places, around 26 degrees C higher or with 65% humidity or higher.
• Cockroaches hide in cracks and crevices and often attracted to surfaces spilled with food.

Control mesures for Cockroaches ..

• Check all equipments in the restaurant, such as microwave ovens and electric grills for any left over particles
• Inspect and clean all food preparation equipment and surfaces and remove food particles from drains.
• Every pest control company must use FSSAI recommended chemicals to treat all cracks and crevices.
• Use permitted insecticides only after business hours (mostly at nights)
• Maintain good sanitary conditions at the restaurant premises.
• Make all dustbins covered.
• Install cockroach traps over the drains and ensure good lighting and ventilation as cockroaches damp and dark places to breed

➡️ Read more about cockroach control

Rodents

Rodents usually damage food and properties and also spread diseases through their faeces and urine or by contact with the surfaces.

Rodents usually gain entry through open drains, doors, windows, ventilators, openings around water pipes, sewers etc. So, Installation of mechanical traps around such entry points are an effective way of denying them access into the premises.

Control Measure of Rodents

• Install tight fitting Windows
• Keep all the drains covered with mesh
• Inpecting all the holes and cracks and seal them.
• Setting up lethal traps, such as sticky traps and regular snap traps where rodent infestation has already occured
• Mechanical rodent traps include “live traps”, which must be checked daily and rodents should be removed as soon as possible.

RODENT Baiting

• Poison baits can be used both indoor and outdoor
• If indoor baits are used, then the rodent could die within the premises. So, careful tracking of the baits is very essential in restaurant pest control.
• Rodents prefer to travel along walls. So, placing the baits where the rodents are likely to move and areas where they search for foods.
• If a bait is put in a public space then it is important to put us a securty bait station for the baits installed

Flies

Flies are the common pest associated with foods.

The main three types of flies are:

• The Garbage fly (this includes the housefly, green and coppery colored flies which is commonly seen near the garbages)
• Fruit flies (Which is found near spoiled fruits and vegetables)
• Drain flies (breed in floors or sink pipes

Control measures for flies

• Maintaining proper sanitzation
• Keep all food areas clean and dry
• Clean all spill around beverages and dispensing stations
• Cleaning drains to prevent the build of sludge.
• Check and clean refrigerator.
• Install light traps both indoor and outdoor to trap flies
• They should be mounted 4-6 feel off the ground.
• Keep all the food wastes in tightly covered bins
• Clean garbage bins regularly

Stored Product Pests

• Indian meal moth which is small moth with coppery colored wings which is the most common pest in stores food products
• Flour and grain beetles – These insects attact a wide variety of flour items such as flour, spices, pasta and cereals are the favourites.

Food Products contaminated with these insects are unfit for consumption.

Tiny holes in cereals along with powdery residue are the signs of infestation.

Control Measures for Stored Product Pests

• Keep food establishment, equipment in good working order to prevent pest access
• Eliminate Potential breeding sites of pests
• Store food in pest-proof containers above the ground and away from walls
• Treat with FSSAI approved chemicals that ensures food safety
• Maintain records with pesticides or insecticides used along with date and frequency.

🐜 Ants

• Ants cause immense damages to food and transmit disease through their excrement make food unfit for consumption
• They nest in spaces betwween walls under floors and in undisputed litter in the outdoor and ants prefer sweet and salty foods.

Control Measures

• Maintain sanitary practices in the premises
• Keep food covered and in air-tight containers
• Apply pesticides wherever necessary