Businesses in the food and beverage industry are far more vulnerable to pests than most residential properties. Whether you are running a restaurant or a factory, it is important to apply preventative measures that keep your products, staff, and customers safe.
Breweries, in particular, attract rodents and insects of all kinds due to the amount of malt, water, and shelter within the facilities. For this reason, it is crucial to invest in pest control for breweries to ensure no infestation takes place.
The Importance of Pest Control for Breweries
An effective pest control strategy not only identifies and locates infestations, but also helps in controlling, removing, and preventing pests. It is critical to implement this in breweries to ensure that pests do not gain access to the products, thus contaminating them and the brewery itself.
Moreover, once pests gain access to the area, it can be very difficult to completely eradicate them, putting your team, products, and entire business at risk of:
- Disease and bacteria
- Property damage
- Health problems
- Proft loss
- Loss of business
The 3 Main Methods of Pest Control and Factors To Consider
There are different kinds of pest control methods you can apply to your brewery, each with its own set of advantages and drawbacks.
Physical Pest Control
Physical pest control involves the use of devices that capture and kill them. Some forms of physical pest control include glue traps, cage traps, heat treatment, ultrasonic repellants, water pressure, vacuums, and electrically charged grids. In addition to these measures, physical pest control includes sealing cracks and holes, and ensuring they do not have an entry point.
This method is the most toxic-free option that will not add risk to health and contamination.
Chemical Pest Control
Chemical pest control utilizes pesticides and rodenticides in the form of pellets, sprays, granules, and the like. They are often used together with physical methods, such as poison baits within physical traps.
While this method is commonly used and highly effective, its main drawback is the toxicity and potential damage it can cause to the facility, your products, and even your team members. It may only be suited in external certain areas of the brewery, but not in the spaces near your products or team members.
Biological Pest Control
Biological pest control recruits other living organisms to control the pest population. It is leveraging the natural food chain by turning the predator-prey dynamic in your business’s favor. For instance, cats naturally chase after mice and beetles naturally eat termites.
While this method may be suitable for residential areas, they are not recommended for businesses within the food industry. Similar to the chemical method, this may only be applied to the exteriors.
Bonus: Organic Pest Control
Organic pest control is an environmentally friendly alternative that also utilizes physical pest control methods, but this time is coupled with non-toxic bait such as insecticidal soap, oil, and spray. These can be applied to breweries so long as they are still kept away from products.
Conclusion
Pest control for breweries is one of the most important facets of maintenance. For regular inspections, upkeep, and brewery sanitation, contact Unitech Pest today.