Indian Meal Moths Flying Around the Kitchen in Manalapan, NJ
Challenge
We were sent out to the home of a new Home Protection Plan customer in Manalapan, NJ to treat for, what the customer called, hundreds of "flying insects" in the kitchen. When we arrived and inspected the kitchen, we were able to identify these flying pests as Indian meal moths. Indian meal moths, also known as pantry pests, are the most common pests to infest pantries and food storage facilities. These troublesome insects cost food processing businesses thousands of dollars in discarded products yearly. They're attracted to light and feed on dried fruits, grains, seeds, nuts, chocolate, candies, birdseed, dog food, and powdered milk.
After checking the kitchen pantry closely, we determined that the Indian meal moths had infested a bag of pistachios!
Solution
Fortunately, a number of items in the kitchen were salvable as the homeowner stored them in sturdy containers. Everything that wasn't, the homeowner disposed of. Once that was finished, we treated all the cracks and crevices throughout the pantries and the kitchen with an aerosol application. This application rapidly exterminates the Indian meal moths. Next, we installed several pheromone traps to catch the adult Indian meal moths that were flying around.
These devices have a unique pheromone in them that lures the Indian meal moths to their demise. Lastly, we scheduled several follow-up inspections to monitor the infestation and replace the devices until the Indian meal moths are no longer infesting the home.
