When most of us wake up in the morning and rummage through the cupboard or refrigerator in search of breakfast sustenance, food safety probably isn’t at the top of our thought process.
We want something healthy and tasty, and that doesn’t require the skills of Rachael Ray or Gordon Ramsey to make! That’s why donuts are such a favorite of mine!
Donuts aside, my colleagues and I at Western Exterminator do think about food safety quite often. We service hundreds of food industry accounts in Arizona, California and Nevada on a daily basis; from drive-through burger joints, hospital cafeterias and five-star restaurants, to dairies, warehouse distribution centers and large-scale food preparation facilities.
Quite simply, wherever food is processed, stored or served, experts are needed to protect it from harmful, disease carrying pests such as birds, cockroaches, flies, rodents and stored product pests that in the blink of an eye (or the curling of a tail!) can turn perfectly healthy, nutritious food into something that must be tossed into the dumpster.
It actually makes me stand a little taller and prouder to know that we at Western Exterminator Company are an integral part of helping to bring quality food stuffs from farm to table.
There are numerous regulations set forth by the federal government to protect our nation’s food supply. The recently enacted Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) furthers protective measures and significantly changes how the food industry does business when it comes to food safety.
The FSMA is administered by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (USDA) and is intended to improve overall food safety levels, lower the number of product recalls, reduce the number of foodborne illnesses, and improve safety standards on imported food.
Food facilities are required to register with the FDA and the agency recently started accepting registrations under the new FSMA guidelines. The goal of the registration process is to make sure the agency has accurate data for each facility, including expanded food categories, if the need for emergency communication is required.
The legislation greatly expands the FDA’s ability to issue mandatory recalls of suspected tainted food products – an enforcement tool the agency did not possess previously.
What does this mean for the food industry? It means inspections and pest management services for food processing, handling and storage facilities will play a bigger role in limiting risk, improving product quality, and operating within more stringent regulatory guidelines.
Western Exterminator customers can take great confidence in knowing that our team is well-informed on the latest regulations and can steer food industry clients through the sometimes rough and choppy waters that come with compliance issues.
Western Exterminator has established detailed, comprehensive inspection and treatment protocols for food industry accounts. These protocols were developed and field-tested by our highly trained on-staff entomologists and registered sanitarians, helping assure compliance with current food safety regulations for our client partners.
Our protocols and treatment methods are customized to the needs of both the facility and the client. Effective food industry accounts can never be serviced with an “off the rack” program and require individual attention, a thorough inspection, and a healthy dose of field knowledge and creative expertise to keep pests out.
Western Exterminator provides complete pest solutions for all commercial establishments which include inspections, assessments, vendor audits, third-party certifications and reports for the American Institute of Baking, American Sanitation Institute, Food and Drug Administration and U.S. Department of Agriculture.
In addition, our registered sanitarians have the same credentials as local health inspectors but are completely in your corner to help you solve pest and sanitation issues before they become problems.
Do you have questions on how Western Exterminator can help keep your food storage, processing or serving facility operate within regulatory guidelines, or do you have any other pest related questions? If so, I want to hear them. You can send me an e-mail at AskMrLittle@WesternExterminator.com. I’ll be sure to get back to you right away with an answer.
Until next time, thanks for making Western Exterminator “The Final Word in Pest Control®”
Have a pest free day!
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