Stored product pheromone traps (SPPTs) are essential monitoring tools for food factories handling dry food products, from raw materials to finished goods.
Leading food safety standards, such as the AIB International Consolidated Standards of Inspection – Pre-requisite and food safety programs and the BRC Global Standard of Food Safety, have specific requirements for pheromone monitoring programs, which food safety auditors verify during audits.
To effectively assess an auditee facility’s SPPT program, auditors need a solid understanding of these tools that have been prevalent only over the past four decades.
This blog post outlines twelve key things every food safety auditor should know about SPPTs.
1. SPP Prevalence
Stored product pests (SPPs), including cigarette beetles, confused flour beetles, red flour beetles, khapra beetles, warehouse beetles, warehouse moths, and almond moths, are common in dry food factories. These facilities must use appropriate traps and pheromone lures to monitor these and other product- and site-specific SPPs.
2. Trap Types
Leading global SPP pheromone trap manufacturers typically offer floor-placed traps for SPP beetles and sticky traps hung on walls or other vertical surfaces for SPP moth species. Pheromone traps are also available for trapping flying beetles and moths in the same trap, and some lures combine pheromones for multiple SPP species, reducing the need for species-specific traps and lures.
3. Auditor Knowledge
Food safety auditors must be familiar with leading SPP pheromone trap brands and use this knowledge to verify the effectiveness of a food factory’s pheromone trap monitoring program.
4. Program Complexity
Pheromone trap monitoring involves using pheromone traps and lures, regularly counting trapped insects, and taking corrective action when trap counts exceed set thresholds. Auditors need to look beyond checking for the presence of pheromone traps at a food factory during a food safety audit and ensure that pheromone traps are an insect monitoring tool that the auditee is using to detect and assess SPP population.
5. Ideal for Low-Level Monitoring
SPPTs are particularly useful for detecting low-level infestations of SPPs that may not be readily visible but are present in or around food products. A food factory claiming to have no SPP infestation may rely on their judgement and not on using pheromone traps that can precisely detect target SPPs.
6. Not Necessary for Visible Infestations
If an SPP infestation is already evident, with insects crawling or flying, pheromone traps are not the primary tool for detection.
7. Pheromone Lures and Traps: A Symbiotic Relationship
Pheromones act as attractants, while traps capture the attracted insects using glue or other mechanisms like kairomones or food-based attractants. Both components are essential for effective monitoring. SPP moth traps have sticky surfaces to capture moths attracted to the pheromone lure. Beetle traps may use kairomones or food attractants and trap beetles in the oily kairomone or on a sticky surface.
8. Regular Lure Replacement is Crucial
The pheromone in lures gradually evaporates, reducing the lures’ effectiveness over time. Users must adhere to the manufacturer’s instructions for lure storage and replacement. During an audit, the auditee should show purchase records of pheromone lures and evidence of replacing ineffective lures after the period specified by the manufacturer.
9. Monitoring, Not Control
SPPTs primarily serve as monitoring tools, indicating the presence of and estimating the population of SPPs. They do not directly control infestations. Furthermore, since sex pheromones attract only male SPPs and not larvae, pheromone trap counts only indicate a portion of the SPP population. Trap users must take action to detect infested products or SPP infestations in the storage or processing environment and eliminate them after trap counts exceed thresholds.
10. Proper Storage for Optimal Effectiveness
Pheromone lures have specific storage requirements and shelf lives, which vary by manufacturer. Users must follow the manufacturer’s instructions to maintain lure potency.
11. Indoor Use Only
SPPTs are designed for indoor use near susceptible products, as SPPs generally cannot survive outdoors except within protected residues. Sheltered outdoor areas like shipping docks may harbour SPP infestations supported by product residues.
12. Trap Counts as Indicators
Significant trap counts signal a potential infestation nearby, prompting further investigation and control measures. The effective use of SPP pheromone monitoring involves analyzing trap counts by location to pinpoint infestations. The minimum trap count frequency is weekly; however, daily counts may be necessary in high-infestation situations.
Additional Considerations for Food Safety Auditors
- Lure Attractiveness: The two common SPP pheromones are sex pheromones (attracting male beetles) and aggregation pheromones (attracting both male and female beetles). Kairomones or food attractants attract both male and female beetles. Sex pheromones generally attract insects better than aggregation pheromones.
- SPP Variety: Pheromone traps and lures are unavailable for all SPPs in dry foods and food factories. The common SPPs for which pheromone traps are available are thus indicative of potential infestation. Auditors and auditee facilities must also rely on visual inspection and product sampling to establish SPP infestation in products, equipment, and the processing environment.
Conclusion
We hope this blog post is useful for food safety auditors and food safety professionals at food factories.
Giridhar Pai Associates (GPA) is India’s leading supplier of stored product pest pheromones, including the Storgard Insect Monitoring Systems from the United States and the Ecomone range from Japan.
The GPA website’s product pages and blog section contain useful information on SPP pheromone traps for food safety professionals.
GPA has guided leading Indian food manufacturers in creating and maintaining SPP pheromone monitoring programs as part of their food safety standard compliance.
Planning and implementing a pheromone monitoring program is straightforward and involves choosing the right traps and lures based on the product and the common SPPs.
Contact us for your requirements of stored product pest pheromone traps and lures.