IPM FOR FOOD SERVICE STAFF
Lesson 1 of 2
Self-Guided Training Module
Learning Objectives
1.
Identify common pests in kitchens and pantries,
including:
a. Ants
b. Cockroaches
c. Flies
d. Rodents
Food Service Staff and IPM
1.
(Integrated Pest Management)
3

Food service staff are among the most important
people participating in a school IPM program.
Why? Because they deal with FOOD!
Food service professionals at Arlington Public Schools discuss the day’s lunch
Photo: Bob Nichols, USDA
1.
Why
Pests?
4
Food is a necessity for
people and pests.
 Pests love food service
areas because they often
have everything a pest
needs to thrive: food,
water and shelter, all in
one spot!

School children enjoying their lunch
Photo: USDA
Ants enjoying their lunch
Photo: Zainichi Gaikokujin
What is IPM?
5
IPM = Integrated (Intelligent) Pest Management
A sensible, environmentally friendly, and effective
way to solve pest problems.

For more information on IPM, refer to IPM
resource sites
(http://www.epa.gov/opp00001/ipm/)
Food Service Staff and IPM
6
Involvement of food service staff in a school IPM program is
important because:
 Food service areas have the most
prone to
pest activity as they:
1. Are locations that receive
regular deliveries (which may
School cafeteria
harbor pests).
Photo: David Shankbone
2. May provide pests with food,
water, warmth and shelter.
 Procedures in food service areas can influence pest
populations and their movement to other areas of the
school.
Food Service Staff and IPM
7
Clean and well-maintained food service areas
are essential for the health and well-being of all
people who eat and work in the area.
Well maintained food service area at Metro Tech High School, Phoenix AZ
Photo: Univ. of Arizona
1.
IPM
is Not an Additional Item on Your To-Do List
8




Food service staff have very
demanding jobs involving different
tasks in addition to food
preparation.
IPM does not add to your
responsibilities!
IPM only involves making slight
changes in your daily activities,
which will make your life easier and
your working environment healthier!
IPM is not your job alone,
it is everyone’s job.
Cleaning up after mealtime
Photo: National Education
Association
School lunches require huge
quantities of cut fruit
Photo: DC Central Kitchen
Pests in Food Service Areas
9
Being aware of common pests is the first step.
Problematic pests in food service areas include:
 Ants
 Cockroaches
 Flies
 Rodents
Pests in Food Service Areas: Ants
10

Ants can cause concerns in food service areas by
invading (i.e. trailing to forage on food, then
returning to an external nest) and/or infesting (i.e.
setting up home within buildings or food items)
and contaminating food materials, biting, stinging
and generally
causing a nuisance.
Ants invade
a mop bucket
Pests in Food Service Areas: Ants
11

A good ID feature is the number of segments
known as “nodes” in their “waist”.
Two nodes
One node

One-node ants
 Argentine ant
 Bicolored pyramid ant
 Crazy ant
 Odorous house ant
 Rover ant

Two-node ants
 Acrobat ant
 Fire ant
 Pavement ant
 Pharaoh ant
 Thief ant
Pests in Food Service Areas: Ants
12

Ants differ in size,
appearance,
habits and food
preferences.
Pavement ant
Photo: April Nobile,
AntWeb.org
Argentine ant
Photo: Eli Sarnat, Bugwood.org
Odorous house/stink ant
Photo: Eli Sarnat, Bugwood.org
Crazy ant
Photo: Eli Sarnat,
Bugwood.org
Thief ant
Photo: AntWeb.org
Pests in Food Service Areas: Ants
13
Notable species: Pharaoh ant (infester), Monomorium pharaonis
 Tiny, inconspicuous, light-colored ant, can enter closed containers
and screw-top jars.
 Attracted to sweets, but will eat almost anything.
 Does not bite or sting, but is a public health hazard because
more than a dozen pathogenic bacteria are associated with this
species.
Pharaoh ant
Photo: Eli Sarnat, Bugwood.org
Pests in Food Service Areas: Ants
14
Notable species: Fire ants (stinging invader), Solenopsis spp.
 Native or introduced species may be encountered, and
may be difficult to distinguish.
 Report fire ants to your school IPM Coordinator. Red
imported fire ants will require specific management
actions.
Southern fire ant
Photo: Eli Sarnat, Bugwood.org
Red imported fire ant
Photo: Eli Sarnat, Bugwood.org
Pests in Food Service Areas: Ants
15
Notable species: Fire ants, Solenopsis spp.
 Pose a serious risk to students
and school personnel, especially
to those with allergies or
sensitivities to fire ant venom.
 Generally these are outdoor
Fire ant stings can result
ants, but invade structures to
in raised pustules and
other allergic reactions
forage on food, water or to
escape extreme outside temperatures.
 Will aggressively bite and sting on disturbance.
Pests in Food Service Areas: Cockroaches
16




Cockroaches are regarded as a sign of unsanitary
conditions and can cause panic in any food service area.
However, occasional cockroaches can be found even in the
cleanest kitchens, hitchhiking in on cardboard boxes of
shipments or wandering indoors in search of food, water, or
shelter.
Even a single cockroach should be taken seriously, as it can
be an indication of a larger infestation.
It is very important to have monitoring traps
where new deliveries are stored so
cockroaches that arrive in the deliveries are
detected.
Pests in Food Service Areas: Cockroaches
17
Recognize the cockroaches
Pests in Food Service Areas: Cockroaches
18
Notable species: German cockroaches, Blattella
germanica
 Most problematic indoor species.
 They produce allergens that can trigger asthma
symptoms.
 They can also carry and spread disease-causing
microbes on and in their bodies.
German cockroach
Photo: Clemson Univ.-USDA
Pests in Food Service Areas: Cockroaches
19

German cockroaches prefer warm and wet
environments like kitchens, while brown-banded
cockroaches are most often found in drier
classroom and office areas. They are both
“indoor only” species.
German cockroach –
different life stages
Brown-banded cockroach –
different life stages
Pests in Food Service Areas: Cockroaches
20

American, oriental and Turkestan cockroaches
are “outdoor” species generally found near
moisture, such as in sewers, basements, and
mulch. They are drawn indoors by extreme
temperatures or food sources.
American cockroach,
adult male
Photo: Ken Schneider
Oriental cockroach,
adult male
Photo: Ken Schneider
Pests in Food Service Areas: Cockroaches
21

Turkestan cockroaches are “outdoor” species
generally found near moisture, such as in irrigation
boxes and mulch. The males are drawn to buildings
by external lighting.
Turkestan
cockroach,
female
Turkestan cockroaches in an irrigation
box
Turkestan cockroach,
adult male
Photo: Dave Beaudette
Pests in Food Service Areas: Cockroaches
22
Once indoors, American cockroaches can thrive
in food service areas.
 They can also carry and spread several
disease-causing microbes.

American cockroaches love human food, but will
survive on many things we think of as waste
Pests in Food Service Areas: Flies
23
Recognize the flies
 “Filth” flies (house flies, flesh flies, blue-bottle flies, etc.) thrive in
filth (any decaying organic matter), and can be a great cause of
annoyance and concern in food service areas.
 They contaminate food, dishes and work surfaces with diseasecausing microbes that may result in food-borne illnesses. Filth flies
readily move from waste to food and back, transferring
pathogens effectively.
 Filth flies do not bite.
House fly, Photo: USDA
Flesh fly, Photo: Susan
Ellis, Bugwood.org
Blue-bottle fly, Photo:
Joseph Berger, Bugwood.org
Pests in Food Service Areas: Flies
24

Moth flies, humpbacked flies and fruit flies are
attracted to decaying organic residues in dirty
drains, and can infest the drains very rapidly.
If you see small flies around a drain, report it
immediately.
Moth/drain fly
Photo: Whitney Cranshaw,
Bugwood.org
Moth flies breed in dirty
drains like this one
Pests in Food Service Areas: Flies
25

Vinegar/fruitflies are tiny flies that are
attracted to ripe or decaying fruit, vegetables,
and any other sweet or sour fermenting food.
Adult fruit fly
Photo: Joseph Berger, Bugwood.org
Fruit flies on bread
Photo: Pest and Disease Image
Library, Bugwood.org
Pests in Food Service Areas: Flies
26




Flies lay eggs in their preferred habitat, decaying
organic matter.
Fly larvae or young ones are called maggots and are
tiny, carrot-shaped, and lack heads or legs.
Maggots wriggle about and feed in the decaying matter
till they pupate. Some can curl up and release quickly,
enabling them to jump short distances using
the release force.
Flies have extremely high reproductive rates
and can multiply into huge populations
in a very short time if favorable conditions
exist.
Fly maggots in over ripe fruit
Photo: USDA-ARS
Pests in Food Service Areas: Rodents



Rodents can be a significant cause
of concern in a food service area.
They consume or contaminate large
quantities of food, damage
structures, and destroy documents, Rodent gnaw marks on electric wire
Photo: EPA
computer and electrical systems due
to their habit of chewing wires.
Rodents enter structures in search of
food and shelter, and once indoors,
they can thrive for long periods of
time, often going unnoticed if there
is no monitoring or inspection. Rodent damage on equipment vent hose
Photo: EPA
Pests in Food Service Areas: Rodents
Recognize the rodents
 The most common rodents encountered in food
service areas are the roof rat, Norway rat and
house mouse.
Norway rat
Roof rat
House mouse
Pests in Food Service Areas: Rodents
Pests in Food Service Areas
Other pests/occasional pests
 Apart from the pests mentioned in the previous slides,
you may encounter many other occasional pests in your
food service area, depending on your
location/situation. For example,
 Insects (termites, stored product moths and beetles,
wood-feeding beetles, crickets, true bugs, moths)
 Spiders
 Birds
 Vertebrates such as squirrels, feral cats, etc.
 These pests can usually be managed by general pestproofing and other management measures, or can be
dealt with on a case-by-case basis.
Pests in Food Service Areas

Important points to remember about pests in your
food service area are:
 Don’t give them food or water
 Don’t give them places to hide
 Don’t let them get in
In the next lesson, we will discuss several ways to
keep pests out of your food service area using
Integrated Pest Management.
Check In!
32
In this lesson you learned:
 How to identify common pests in kitchens and pantries,
including:
a. Ants
b. Cockroaches
c.
Flies
d. Rodents
Congratulations, you have completed the School IPM for
Food Service Staff Module – Lesson1! Next you will learn
about implementing IPM in your food service area in Lesson
2.
Resources
33
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Food Service Checklist. IPM Institute of North America.
http://www.ipminstitute.org/school_ipm_2015/foodservicechecklist.doc
Food Service IPM. Texas Cooperative Extension,Southwest Technical Resource
Center http://schoolipm.tamu.edu/files/2010/11/Food_Service_IPMSmall.pdf
Get Tough on Pests in Food Service Areas. NC State University Cooperative
Extension.
http://schoolipm.ncsu.edu/documents/IPMforFoodserviceemployees.pdf
School IPM for Kitchen Staff. IPM Institute of North America.
http://www.ipminstitute.org/School_IPM_Toolbox/School_IPM_for_kitchen_hig
h_res_Aug_07.ppt
Safer Pest Control Project: IPM in Action
http://www.spcpweb.org/factsheets/IPM_Picture_Tour_w_cover.pdf
Management of Ants in Childcare Settings. EPA.
http://www2.epa.gov/sites/production/files/documents/Module09.pdf
Managing Mice and Rats In and Around Childcare. EPA.
http://www2.epa.gov/sites/production/files/documents/Module05.pdf