RI, MA EHS Pest Control Blog

Congress Poised to Pass Ambitious Food-Safety Bill

The bill would give the FDA broad new powers to force recalls of tainted foods, regulate imported foods and ingredients, and conduct more frequent inspections of food-production facilities.

In a world where we get garlic from China, shellfish from Thailand and sugar cane from Mexico, Congress is poised to approve an ambitious food safety bill that would strengthen the nation's top regulator and impose new rules on domestic production and trading partners.

The legislation is aimed at preventing tainted food from entering the supply chain, sickening Americans and forcing massive recalls. It would give the Food and Drug Administration sweeping new powers to demand recalls and require importers to certify the safety of what they're bringing into this country.

By allowing regulators, for instance, to react more quickly to reports of illness, the legislation could limit or prevent recalls like those of spinach and peanuts in recent years, supporters said.

The House is expected to pass the measure Tuesday, sending it to President Obama for his signature.

"This is a once-in-a-lifetime update. A lot has changed since 1938," when the current food regulatory regime was established, said Ami Gadhia, policy counsel for Consumers Union. "This will put FDA in a posture to prevent food-borne illness before it happens."

The overhaul also would be good for business because "it's going to provide a measure of security and certainty that there's a system in place and bad actors will be weeded out. It's going to save business costly recalls," Gadhia said.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last week said tainted food is responsible for 3,000 deaths and 48 million illnesses a year.

But even with sweeping new powers, federal regulators may be hard-pressed to overcome a challenge that has grown in recent years: Food safety rules have changed little over the last 70 years even as the U.S. food supply has evolved into a global network including foreign growers, producers and processors over whom the United States has little or no direct control.

Today, imported food accounts for about 15% of the nation's food supply by value, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Imports amounted to $76 billion through the first 10 months of this year, a 12% increase over last year and on track to be twice the $41 billion in 1998.

But about 80% of seafood and one-third of fruits and nuts today come from abroad. Foreign sources also account for significant shares of certain ingredients even though the finished product is turned out in the United States. Most cereals, for example, include supplemental vitamins that primarily come from China, which is the third-largest food importer into the U.S. behind Canada and Mexico.

Most of the high-profile recalls in recent years involved problems with domestic producers. But the increasing flow of food from overseas has vastly complicated the challenge of protecting the nation's food supply, and new power to regulate foreign foodstuffs and components of domestically produced products is a crucial part of the pending legislation.

"FDA is able to inspect only about 1% of the food imported into the U.S.," said Erik Olson, deputy director of the Pew Health Group. "Right now, we don't have a standard for meeting U.S. requirements.

"When this legislation is put in place, we'll have a framework to ensure that food that's imported into the U.S. meets U.S. standards and importers are held accountable," Olson said.

The bill would give the FDA, which is responsible for overseeing about 80% of the nation's food supply, the authority to require domestic food producers to draw up detailed plans to ensure the safety of their products.

Domestic companies also would have to make their records available more quickly to the FDA, and the agency would be directed to inspect production facilities more frequently — a process now so inadequate that many plants are not checked for years at a time.

Businesses that fail inspections or are involved in recalls could be assessed the costs of complying with regulations. Failure to maintain a safety plan could lead to a fine of up to $1,000 and/or one year in prison.

The FDA also would receive a long-sought club to wield against recalcitrant food producers: the power to order recalls itself rather than asking for industry cooperation.

One challenge: The legislation does not come with built-in funding and would require an appropriation of about $1.4 billion over the next five years.

Next year, the spending bill would have to be approved in a House controlled by Republicans, many of whom voted against the original measure. However, the incoming chairman of the Appropriations Committee, Harold Rogers (R-Ky.), voted in favor of the bill.

Amid growing consumer anxiety about food safety, the industry willingly accepted the new level of government involvement, although some noted that the new law is likely to come with higher costs to producers.

That may hurt smaller farmers in particular who would have to buy new equipment for tracking products and pay higher insurance costs, which are likely to be passed on to consumers.

Like the mammoth healthcare overhaul, the new food safety law would be slow to take full effect.

For smaller food producers, the bill has a lengthy phase-in period designed to minimize financial effect.

And it would take time for the FDA to draft implementing regulations and increase staffing for its expanded responsibilities.

Moreover, many large producers in sectors of the food business particularly hard hit by illness outbreaks — such as produce — said they already were using many of the protective systems that would be mandatory under the legislation.

Foreign producers, though, might feel changes most dramatically.

"Historically, FDA's never had much authority overseas. They had to wait until food got to the border," said Chris Waldrop, director of the Food Policy Institute at the Consumer Federation of America.

In addition to requiring certification from importers, the legislation would allow the FDA to evaluate food safety authorities in other countries to ensure that they're controlling risks.

It also would allow the agency to enter deals with foreign nations to inspect overseas food facilities and to refuse entry of foods from facilities or countries that won't allow the inspections.

The FDA would be authorized to open new offices overseas. It currently has offices in China, India, Mexico, Costa Rica, Chile, Britain and Belgium.

"They will be able to get better knowledge of who's producing clean food and who's producing suspect food," said Craig Harris, a food safety expert at Michigan State University.

SOURCE: LA TIMES

Pest Control, MA ,  Pest Control, RI

Cockroach dookie? OK, it is not the most technical term but it sure does get the point across! We all know that having roaches where we eat & live is socially unacceptable but...

Exactly how unhealthy is it? This video is graphic proof that the bacterial levels associated with cockroaches is extremely high! Look at the bacteria count after just 24 hours time with a simple swab of “dookie.”

What if this is a commercial food handling facility like a restaurant or food manufacturer? You have an obligation to protect the public in addition to your brand. Even a few cockroaches can cause a serious issue.

With the increase in global commerce and travel it was inevitable that pest issues would follow. Pests are very efficient hitchhikers and we are introducing them into the U.S. at an alarming rate.

Foreign pests are eating their way through our national forests, destroying majestic scenery and costing taxpayers millions of dollars.

If enforcement efforts to prevent their importation aren't stepped up, irreplaceable resources will be lost forever and taxpayers can expect to fork over billions of dollars by 2019, according to a comprehensive study published today in BioScience.

Researchers at the University of California at Santa Barbara, Michigan State University, the University of Central Florida and the United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service analyzed the impact of invasive insects and pathogens introduced into the United States through 2007.

What they found was a staggering list of more than 455 insects and 16 pathogens that are destroying everything from oak trees in California to redbay trees in Central Florida. Based on the pattern, the researchers predict one especially destructive pest will sneak into the nation every two years.

"Entire forests are being wiped out, and it is costing taxpayers millions as the government tries to eradicate invaders that threaten industries dependent on trees and plants," said Besty Von Holle, a UCF biologist who worked on the project. "We're losing a variety of native species as a result of importing these pests. It's not just aesthetics. It's impacting our economy."

These pests and diseases sneak into the country on everything from horticultural (or plant) imports to the wooden pallets used to transport building supplies, electronic goods and toilet paper, among other products.

"Global trade has had tremendous benefits for Americans," said lead author Juliann Aukema from the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis in Santa Barbara. "Unfortunately, it also has resulted in the introduction of destructive insects and other organisms that threaten native ecosystems and the services they provide."

No section of the country is immune.

Laurel wilt disease is one of the latest organisms to be spread by a foreign beetle in the southeastern United States. It is wiping out redbay trees in Georgia and last month was discovered in Seminole County, Fla. Redbay trees are important to wildlife, and certain butterflies depend on them for survival.

California has been battling sudden oak death, a pathogen that is destroying oak trees in California and Oregon since the 1990s. California has spent millions trying to stop it, because the trees are a state treasure.

The Asian longhorned beetle, which came into the United States hidden in wooden packing pallets, has ravaged all sorts of trees in New York City and Chicago. So far, those communities have spent $220 million fighting the infestation.

Another beetle, the emerald ash borer, has been destroying trees in the Midwest since 2002. It is estimated municipalities will spend more than $10 billion for landscape and tree treatments and removals in the next 10 years battling the ash borer.

"Once here, these invasive species are virtually impossible to stop," Von Holle said.

Recommendations include better screening before letting items into the country. The department within the USDA that is in charge of screening at airports and ports is now part of Homeland Security.

"These screening agents have too much to do, and right now the focus is on finding bombs and weapons," Von Holle said. "That's absolutely right, but we also need to be more aggressive about biological threats that could undermine large parts of the U.S. economy and harm our environment."

Provided by University of Central Florida, click here for original article.

This afternoon, a 390-million-year-old thysanuran paid me a visit on my desk. It wasn’t really that old, just a little creature whose uninterrupted ancestry dates back at least that far. It’s called a silverfish. It’s also a nuisance.

A thysanuran is one of the most ancient members of a group of animals consisting mostly of insects -- the hexapods. Although silverfish are primitive, they represent a link between early wingless hexapods and those with wings (insects), a major evolutionary split that occurred long ago.

The creature’s name comes partly from the silvery scales that flake off its body like shiny dust and partly because of its preference for cool, damp places that for some reason suggested "fish" to someone. The slender, flattened little animal is not at all fish-like.

A silverfish’s most distinctive features are long antennae and curious tail filaments, showing that a sense of touch is essential, while vision is not. (Silverfish eyes are small.) Preferring to remain in confined and secluded places, sensing vibrations and physical surroundings are critical to survival.

When a silverfish is disturbed it scuttles away to a hiding place, squeezing its flattened body into the narrowest possible space. The tiny animal is almost impossible to pick up, but if you touch it a powder of silvery scales sticks to your fingers.

Silverfish prefer cool places with high relative humidity; bathrooms and cellars are just fine. They scavenge in the open after dark, but as soon as lights are turned on they flee. Sometimes one gets trapped in a sink or bathtub where smooth sides prevent climbing out. During the day, if you suddenly expose its refuge by lifting an object, a silverfish may even jump in alarm or run sideways in its haste to escape. Outdoors they live relatively undisturbed under stones, bark, logs, and leaf litter, feeding quietly on decayed plant material and fungi. Inside, however, the damage they do can be irreparable as they eat starched clothing, pasted wallpaper, photographs, cereal, leather and paper -- especially pages in books and manuscripts.

Silverfish survive difficult conditions. Despite their preference for humidity, they are able to resist arid conditions and can survive in dry attics munching on old magazines, cardboard cartons, and fabrics. They also have a very slow metabolic rate and can live many months without food.

Although thysanuran reproduction is slow and simple, they engage in simple ceremonial behavior that helps to transfer sperm without actual contact. The male spins a silken thread between the substrate and an overhead object. There he places a package of sperm, called a spermatophore. Before leaving the scene, he encourages a female to approach the spot.

She locates and picks up the sperm packet with her tail bristles and places it in her reproductive opening where fertilization of eggs takes place. Not one to waste good protein nourishment, the female then eats the empty spermatophore.

She lays two or three tiny whitish eggs in a crack or under debris before moving on to other, similar sites to lay a few more. Over her lifetime a female silverfish produces about 100 eggs.

Young hatchling silverfish are tiny, white replicas of their parents. Adult coloration develops gradually as they molt and grow. They reach adult size in about two years and with good luck live up to eight years.

Were you to seek the origin of hexapods in the remains of early coal forests, you’d find thysanuran fossils that are almost indistinguishable from today’s forms. The oldest identifiable hexapod fossil ever found -- a 390 million-year-old silverfish -- was discovered just north of here in Quebec.

They came into existence long before winged insects appeared, so for them little has changed. With no metamorphosis whatsoever in reproduction, a silverfish or firebrat emerges as a smaller version of what it will be in adulthood -- another archaic characteristic.

Tidy housekeepers don’t want an infestation of silverfish, especially since a large population indicates a humidity problem in a house. There are no effective preventive measures, other than keeping humidity down, fixing plumbing leaks, clearing out clutter, and lighting up dark areas.

Because silverfish in Vermont and New Hampshire are mostly outdoor varieties, paper-eating doesn’t seem to be a local problem, so I suspect my desktop visitor was simply enjoying an alternative to being outside. But when I lived in Delaware, my loss of books, lecture notes, and manuscript copy were more than I could tolerate. I knew the culprits from the wandering trails of destruction left in the wake of their insatiable appetites. I went on silverfish rampages from time to time, though they never did any good. They have survived for several hundred million years; clearly their kind can surely outlast me.

By Bill Otis
Posted on Bennington Banner, Thursday December 2, 2010

People are always worried about travel and bedbugs. How do I get them? What should I look for? What should I do? Here are some great tips to follow when traveling from the National Pest Management Association.

Over the next several weeks, with images of vacations, family reunions and time off dancing in their heads, millions of Americans will be hitting the roads, skies and rails, traveling to various holiday destinations. The National Pest Management Association (NPMA) advises travelers to take some simple precautions to avoid the most unwanted holiday present — an encounter with bed bugs.

“Whether going to grandma’s house or a hotel, travelers should be on the lookout for signs of bed bugs. Parents whose children are returning from college should also inspect their belongings before bringing laundry and packed bags inside, as infestations have been reported on campuses across the country,” said Missy Henriksen vice president of public affairs for NPMA.

“However, there is no need to be alarmed or alter travel plans. With a few simple steps, travelers can diminish their risk of dealing with bed bugs,” added Henriksen.

Travelers should remember the following tips from NPMA:

• Thoroughly inspect the entire room before unpacking. Don’t put luggage on the bed.
• Pull back bed sheets and inspect mattress seams, particularly the corners, for telltale brownish or reddish spots. Bed bugs can also be found in box springs and behind baseboards, electrical switch plates, picture frames, wallpaper, in upholstery and furniture.
• If changing rooms within the same hotel, ensure the new room is not adjacent to the possibly infested room.
• If staying at a residence, inform the homeowner immediately of a suspected bed bug problem.
• Use a large plastic bag to store luggage.
• Upon returning home, inspect and vacuum suitcases before bringing them into the house.
• Wash all clothes — whether worn or not — in hot water or take them to a dry cleaner.
• If you suspect an infestation in your own home, contact a licensed pest professional to inspect the property.

For more information on bed bugs or to find a pest professional, please visit: www.ehspest.com.

The NPMA, a non-profit organization with more than 7,000 members, was established in 1933 to support the pest management industry's commitment to the protection of public health, food and property.

Courtesy: Nancy Kennedy

Trees strung with hundreds of holiday lights at the Town Hall mall have been visited during the past several months by squirrels that chewed through the commercial grade wires.

This has resulted in a postponement of Braintree’s lighting ceremony planned for Dec. 5 at 4 p.m. with Mayor Joseph Sullivan and hundreds of residents in attendance.

The town has ordered several hundred additional strings of lights so they can be positioned on several of the tall oak trees in the mall in advance of the ceremony that has been rescheduled for Dec. 12 at 4 p.m.

When Department of Public Works Director Thomas Whalen electrified all of the lights on the trees this week, he discovered that more than half of the lights wouldn’t work. An inspection found that many of the wires had been severed.

“We’ve worked with our friends at Curry Hardware to find us some replacement tree lights, and a new shipment coming from North Carolina should be arriving in town for hanging early next week,” Whalen said. “In the meantime, we’ll strive to make the trees off limits to any squirrels before they can damage any more lights.”

Last year’s tree lighting ceremony was the first held at the mall in about 10 years, and Sullivan committed to restoring this event each December, Director of Recreation and Community Events William Hedlund recalled.

“We thought we were all set for Dec. 5, but the prolific number of squirrels eating away at the tree light wires caused this unexpected delay,” Hedlund said. “We are up to the challenge of having a bigger and better festive lighting program on Dec. 12 instead.”

Everyone is encouraged to attend, enjoy hot chocolate, and get seasonal candy canes while music is piped throughout the mall before the ceremony that will illuminate the trees on the south end of the facility all night long throughout the holiday season.

“We never anticipated that hundreds of visiting squirrels who have romped about the mall over the past several months would use their voracious appetites on the electrical wires hanging overhead, but now we can learn from our recent discovery and do our best to prevent this from ever happening again,” Sullivan said. “We refuse to allow this temporary setback to dampen our spirit as a community.”

Click Image To Enlarge

The correct terminology is larva or larvae. For all intents & purposes they are MAGGOTS! I happen to snap this picture of something that happens in every city & town and that is flies. What you are looking at is about 2,000 maggots in some stagnant water in a garbage can cover. In about 5-7 days these 2,000 maggots will be 2,000 flies. Those flies will continue to reproduce in alarming volumes and at a very fast pace. In fact that 2,000 flies if uncontrolled & they survive can easily be 100,000 in just 30 days!!!

Most people see a roach or rodent in a restaurant, their business, or their home and they freak out and need something done immediately. It is the fly that should cause this type of reaction in people yet all we do is swat at them & do not give them a 2nd thought. We even joke about them….

Waiter, there is a fly in my soup!
What’s he doing?
I believe it is the backstroke.

Flies are one of the most disgusting insects on the planet and they are capable of transmitting so many diseases through the bacteria they contact. Next time you see a fly take it VERY seriously!

• Termites outweigh humans by almost ten to one.
• Termites have been known to eat food twice as fast when heavy metal music is playing.
• There are more beetles than any other animal. In fact, one out of every four animals is a beetle.
• The rhinoceros beetle is the strongest animal and is capable of lifting 850 times its own weight.
• A spider's web is not a home, but rather a trap for its food. They are as individual as snowflakes, with no two ever being the same. Some tropical spiders have built webs over eighteen feet across.
• More people are afraid of spiders than death. Amazingly, few people are afraid of Champagne corks even though you are more likely to be killed by one than by a spider.
• The most poisonous spider is the black widow. Its venom is more potent than a rattlesnake's.
• During its lifetime, a worker bee will only produce about one-twelfth of a teaspoon of honey.
• Honeybees are more dangerous than snakes. Bees kill more people each year than all the poisonous snakes combined.
• Butterflies have taste sensors in their feet and taste their food by standing on it. Although all species of butterflies have six legs, some keep their front legs tucked up under their body most of the time.
• The butterfly was originally called the "flutterby."
• The praying mantis is capable of turning its head 360 degrees. It is the only insect that can do this. It is also the only animal on Earth with only one ear.
• Crickets and katydids have ears on their legs.
• Aphids are born pregnant and can give birth when they are only ten days old.
• Only male crickets can chirp and will chirp faster in warm weather than cool. In fact, you can determine the temperature by counting the number of chirps in fifteen seconds and adding it to 37.