There are some pests that particularly affect the food from your local supermarket. These pests can be anything from rodents to flies. Each pest brings its own food safety problems with them. Here we are going to look at the top 5 pests in Essex supermarkets that affect our food.
Rodents
Food is a huge attractor of pests like mice and rats. Because they don’t like being too far away from their food source, they will also nest nearby too. With a very stable food source, the rodent population can increase very quickly. UK supermarkets have had reports of rat sightings by the public.
There are multiple threats to our food when a rat or mouse is present in a supermarket:
- Food containers and packaging gets damaged.
- The building itself including electric supply can be damaged by rodents.
- Food that is being stored or that is on display is at risk of being eaten.
- Food can easily become contaminated with rodent borne diseases from urine and droppings.
- Diseases like Lyme diseases and salmonella can be transmitted through our food if it comes into contact with a rodent.
Cockroaches
Cockroaches are a huge problem for food in the Essex area. If your supermarket has been infested by pests, and you need pest control in Essex, you need to call a local pest company who is experienced with pest control in this sector.
Cockroaches can hide very easily and reproduce quickly, spreading diseases. Because cockroaches come out mostly at night, it’s hard to tell a cockroach problem is active. Supermarkets are full of dark nooks and crannies that a cockroach will love. The risks that cockroaches pose to our food are:
- They spread diseases and trigger allergies. Salmonella and listeria are both carried and transmitted by cockroaches through our food.
- Food preparation areas and places where food is stored can be infected by secretions from cockroaches.
- Food is easily contaminated through cockroach saliva and droppings.
- Having an active cockroach infestation can trigger allergies and asthma attacks because of their shedding skin.
Flies
Food is a huge attractor of flies, which is why Essex supermarkets are targeted so aggressively by this pest. House and drain flies will both infest a food store. Just one fly can carry over 100 pathogens on it, all of which cause very harmful diseases.
Flies are such a huge risk to supermarket foods because of their ability to contaminate it so easily. Pathogens carried by flies can cause us to be very ill. Over 64{c246ec3fad8b1b1628ee0a040b6f9bc8686c04fa149a3485de2baa5ff63b25ae} of businesses each year have to pay out compensation to customers who have become ill from food diseases, which flies can play a part in.
Flies have also been the number one cause of staff illnesses in supermarkets and food businesses too. All around these are pests that we don’t want near our food.
