Bad sanitation and good sanitation in Keansburg, NJ
Challenge
For restaurants and other food service businesses, proper sanitation protocols and practices are the key for preventing insect and rodent infestations from getting out of control. Creating a inhospitable environment for pests stops most infestations from occurring, and if they do occur, minimize their severity, making it much easier for us to treat. Effective pest control is a partnership with the pest control service and the customer and both have important responsibilities.
Having cooperation with customers with good communication channels is the first step in prevention. Pest control technicians can’t be there every day and those customers that are diligent about their daily responsibilities and have their kitchen staff on board makes all the difference. Our recommendations to address structural or sanitation deficiencies do little good if they are not implemented. However, when our recommendations are incorporated in the customer’s daily operations, it virtually ensures an ongoing pest-free environment.
Solution
Often, sanitation recommendations are quite simple to implement. For example, the kitchen staff may need to do a better job cleaning in, around, and under all of the kitchen appliances and equipment. Food and garbage debris needs to be removed from the building and put in sealed containers so it is not an attractant for insects and rodents. Likewise, mops have to be properly cleaned, stored, and hanged at the end of the night. Wet mobs encrusted with food debris are a common source of insect activity. Some structural deficiencies are easy fixes like repairing cracked tile and sealing gaps around pipes that provide access into structures and harborage areas. Other problems like dealing with leaking water pipes or cracked sewer lines can be very invasive and expensive. Unfortunately, despite the cost, these problems need to be corrected sooner rather than later. Delaying these sources of water intrusion leaves open a host of problems — further damage to the building, mold growth, and creating a serious breeding ground for all sorts of flying insects like phorid flies and drain flies and crawling insects, especially troublesome ants.
Continuing cooperation and communication with our clients is the backbone of a successful pest control program. And that’s good business for them and good business for us!
