Tag: Pests

  • Common Pests – Rats and mice

    Mice can enter premises through a hole no larger than the diameter of a pencil. Young rats don’t need a much bigger space. Once rats and mice are established they can be very difficult to get rid of. They can breed very quickly and they often have a resistance to rodenticides and other chemical poisons.…

  • Don’t create any favourable conditions for pests

    You can never be completely sure of keeping pests out, but you can at least limit the opportunities for them to contaminate food. Here are some good working practices to do this: remove spillage and food particles promptly from work surfaces and floors don’t leave dirty utensils and equipment lying around maintain a high standard…

  • Keep pests away from food

    There are three main kinds of pests which are commonly found in places where food for human consumption is prepared or stored. (There’s also a fourth type, namely student chefs who can eat like a plague of locusts sometimes, but that’s a different story.) The main types are: rodents – such as mice and rats…

  • Other sources of bacteria

    Having already talked about the two main sources of food poisoning bacteria – raw food and humans – now we can look at some other common sources. Flies and other insects Birds Rats and mice All these pests carry bacteria in their bodies and in their urine and droppings. They can infect food and places…

  • Hygiene Control

    Hygiene control is the adoption of practices which reduce the risk of clean food being contaminated. The aim of hygiene control is to prevent the spread of bacteria. Direct contamination may occur when high risk food has close contact with a contaminated source. Indirect contamination is more frequent. This happens when something else, such as…

  • Native Ladybirds at Risk

    Help save British ladybirds by taking part in the harlequin survey – to establish the size of the invasion of the UK by harlequin ladybirds.