The AIB International Consolidated Standards For Inspection (AIBICSI) – Pre-requisite and food safety programmes sub-section 4.2 under section 4.0 Integrated Pest Management (IPM) covers the scope of service.
This blog post reviews section 4.2 of the AIBICSI to guide auditees in developing their IPM program to comply with the standard.
The objective of section 4.2 – Scope of Service: This sub-section requires that the auditee company (auditee) clearly define all pest management activities and who is responsible for them to lay a strong IPM program foundation.
- Facility and company name: The auditee’s contract with the pest control service provider (PCSP) should mention the facility covered by the contract and the auditee company availing the services. Such delineation helps if the auditee company has multiple facilities adjoining each other or located distantly.
- IPM contact persons for facility and PCSP: This requirement is like a single point of contact (SPOC) defined in agreements. The auditee company must identify an employee with the authority to be the contact person to direct the PSCP and to receive and act on their feedback. The PSCP must also have a managerial-level employee to interact with the auditee to implement and improve the site’s IPM program. IPM contact person role is functional, and the nominees must possess knowledge of IPM, food safety and the AIBICSI and have the authority to get things done at their companies.
- Frequency of services: The contract must specify the frequency of pest management services: daily, weekly, fortnightly, monthly, or other times.
Not specifying a frequency or using general terms like ‘as and when required’ could be difficult to justify to the AIBI auditor. The frequency must be linked to the likelihood of the pest (probability) and its potential for damage (risk). Services like fumigation, a corrective action, may be planned after discovering stored product infestation.
- Description of contracted services and how they will be carried out: The standard requires details of the pest management services, including equipment, chemicals, tools and other materials used and how they will be used for pest treatments. The description of pest management services must also include the mode of application of the pesticides or other materials.
- Will the pesticide be applied as a liquid emulsion or an aerosol?
- How frequently will the rodent traps and bait stations checked?
- When checking a pheromone trap once weekly, what activities will the pest management technician do?
Though it is a good idea for the PSCP to provide their operating procedures for the details, it is preferable to maintain a site-specific details of pest treatments for better clarity.
- Term of the contract: This requirement specifies that the contract has a term with a starting and ending date. To ensure contract validity during any audit, the company IPM SPOC must plan for contract renewal two to three months in advance.
- Equipment and material storage specifications: Some PCSPs bring their materials daily and take them back after completing their services. However, at large facilities, there may be a need to store equipment and materials on-site for ease of access and efficiency. The storage should have accessible material inventory, access control, ventilation, fire extinguishers and spill control tools.
- List of approved chemical pesticides: The auditee must maintain a list approved for use at their facility and ensure that the pest control service provider uses only such materials as in the approved list.
Depending on their country’s regulations, auditees must only allow approved-for-food-facility-use chemical pesticides in a food facility. Further, the use of the product must be as per its label instructions or claims. If there is a need to use any pesticide not in the approved list, the service provider must amend the list of approved chemical pesticides and only use such products.
The AIBI auditor will look for evidence of prior approval of a chemical pesticide used newly at a facility to establish the control of chemicals through approval by the auditee before use by the service provider.
Under the AIBICSI clause 4.6, an auditee must maintain an inventory of stored chemical pesticides and have documented spill control procedures.
- Emergency call procedures: A food facility can have a pest emergency at anytime and should document the process for such instances.
The emergency must be defined, and it could be the following or similar pest occurrences that could lead to product safety concerns.
- Flying insects inside the production area due to damaged insect screens or
- Discovery of stored product beetles in product residues inside production equipment,
- Bird entry into a warehouse
Classification of a pest occurrence as an emergency must be linked to the pest risk.
There must be a process of contacting the pest control service provider and mutually agreed lead times for pest treatment in response to the emergency.
Auditees must consider the following scenarios for the PSCP response time to suit their local conditions.
- During public holidays
- During weekends
- During evenings and nights
The emergency procedures must also specify the persons from the auditee and the pest control service provider who shall be contacted with the emergency information of a pest risk occurrence.
- Service records: The AIBICSI has an appendix listing the documents to be ready for inspection by an AIBI auditor. We have noted that the standard requires twenty-two types of pest control records. Readers can download a Checklist of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) records for an AIBI inspection. While the contract may specify the service provider’s maintenance of pest management service records, the auditee is eventually responsible for sharing those records with the AIBI auditor.
- Change management of services and materials: The pest management service contract at an AIBICSI auditee site can change based on process, product, and facility changes. The auditee must be able to demonstrate the pest risk assessment before initiating a change and must document the new service process or the change in the material. Service changes could be due to the higher or lower pest risk. Changes in materials could be due to the non-availability of a product, the availability of a newer and better product or the need to control a new pest. Changes to pesticides must be documented in the list of approved pesticides. The auditee must be able to show through the service records the start dates for changed or new services and the date from which a new pesticide was used.
Preparing your facility for the AIBICSI’s Section 4.2 – Scope of Service
The Scope of Service of the AIBICSI can be easy and simple if you partner with a qualified pest control service provider who knows AIBICSI through services at other companies that comply with that standard.
Giridhar Pai Associates supplies a suitable product range for AIBICSI-compliant food factories, including insect light traps, rodent seals, and pheromone traps.
We shall happily assist you with your requirements for our high-quality pest monitoring and pest prevention products for the AIBICSI food safety program.
Contact us today for more information on pest monitoring devices and pest prevention tools for your AIBICSI IPM program.