RI, MA EHS Pest Control Blog

Roaches With a Side of Mice? Health Dept. Says 17% More Eateries Failed Inspection in 2011

These numbers could make you sick.

The tally of restaurants shuttered by city health inspectors jumped more than 17% last year to 1,504 - up from 1,282 in 2010, the Daily News has learned.

The closures are fueled by a new letter grading system, which has also led to skyrocketing restaurant fines.

The Health Department banked $42.3 million in fines last year, nearly $10 million more than in 2010.

Restaurant owners fume that the violations are often trumped up and are eating away at profits.

"I haven't heard of an equivalent reduction in the number of food-borne illnesses as a result of the new system," said Andrew Rigie, executive vice president of the New York State Restaurant Association.

The Bloomberg administration argues that the beefed-up inspections are compelling restaurants to clean up their act.

"The Department of Health will be looking at food-borne illnesses over time, but it is too early to know," agency spokesman John Kelly said.

Kelly noted that many of the shuttered restaurants reopened several days after fixing the cited problems.

Dirty floors and food that's been left out in the open, unprotected from mice and other rodents, topped the list of violations linked to a specific reason, records show.

There was a 35% increase in fines issued for mice discovered around food. The number of fines blamed on mice reached 18,384 during the fiscal year ending June 30, up from 13,657 in 2010.

Under the new system, eateries that don't ace their first tests get reinspected within about a month.

Restaurants can appeal their final score. If the owner appeals, a "Grade Pending" sign must be posted outside until an administrative judge reviews the case, generally in about four weeks.

The increased fines were expected, officials said.

"The agency actually anticipated an increase, because poorer-performing restaurants are now being inspected more quickly," Kelly said. "However, since the inception of the restaurant grading program, restaurants are improving, cycle to cycle."

That's in part due to help from high-priced consultants hired by many big-name restaurants.

"The Health Department has created an entire industry of consultants to help them pass their inspections," said Rigie.

"No one wants to see their customers get sick."

One Brooklyn restaurant owner said she has lost thousands of dollars appealing fines at administrative hearings. Fines range from $200 to $2,000.

"They are putting me out of business," said the owner, who did not want her name used. "How can I afford to pay $2,000 fines in this economy?"

George Williams,
General Manager - Staff Entomologist

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA 

Bat Terrorizes Passengers on Airplane

A bat got loose on an Atlanta-bound flight, forcing horrified passengers to duck for cover.

The flying mammal appeared about 15 minutes after Delta flight 5121, operated by Atlantic Southeast Airlines, took off from Madison, Wis., on Friday, and cruised around the cabin above passengers' heads.

“The captain called the control tower to say the plane was returning to the airport to remove a winged animal,” said Brent McHenry, spokesperson for the Dane County Regional Airport in Madison.

A passenger near the rear of the plane shooed the bat into the restroom and shut the door, to the cheers of fellow riders, according to the Wisconsin State Journal. But McHenry said that by the time the plane landed and all passengers got off, it seemed to have vanished. As airport maintenance staff searched the plane, however, a bat flew out and into the terminal, he said. From there, workers coaxed it out to freedom.

“Our terminal has high ceilings, and it’s not unusual to have a bird flying around inside,” said McHenry. “But the bat created a bit of entertainment for our early morning passengers as maintenance crew members with a large net ushered it outside.”

After a delay of a few hours, passengers were able to re-board continue on to Atlanta.

Jarek Beem, spokesperson for Atlantic Southeast Airlines, said the airline was “confident in the maintenance search and that the animal was no longer on the aircraft at the time of the next departure.”

Source – nbcnews.com

George Williams
General Manager - Staff Entomologist

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA

Squirrels Do 17% of the Damage to Fiber Optic Network

Fred Lawler, senior vice president of global field services at Level 3, said that "squirrel chews" account for a whopping 17 percent of the company's damage repairs this year, across 57,000 miles of intercity and 27,000 miles of metropolitan fiber.

Lawler noted, "Of all the animals in the whole world, almost all of our animal damage comes from this furry little nut eater. Squirrel chews account for a whopping 17% of our damages so far this year! But let me add that it is down from 28% just last year and it continues to decrease since we added cable guards to our plant. Honestly, I don’t understand what the big attraction is or why they feel compelled to gnaw through cables. Our guys in the field have given this some thought and jokingly suspect the cable manufacturers of using peanut oil in the sheathing. If you have any new ideas on how we can combat these wayward rodents, I’d love to hear from you. We are always looking for ways to improve."

George Williams
General Manager - Staff Entomologist

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA

The call came into the EHS office that the customer hears a squeaking and scratching noise mostly in at nighttime. We suspect either mice or possibly squirrels so we set up a free inspection to determine the pest activity if any, and proposal for service if needed.

I get there and inspect the outside of the house then inside and find no evidence of a pest. The customer is insistent that he is hearing the noise and he really heard it just before I got there. He thinks it is coming from the attic.

So I go up in the attic and I find nothing. I tell the customer that I am going to stay quiet for a bit to find out if I can hear the squeaking. It’s July, I am in an attic sitting perfectly still for 15 minutes, the outside temperature reads 92 degrees, this means the attic is at least 120 degrees! After 15 min I am a good 2-3lbs lighter and I tell the customer I can’t see or hear anything so I am coming down. As I close the door to the attic the customer yells that he is hearing it again. I run to where he is and listen.

Is that the sound you hear? “YEP that’s it”, he replies. The sound you are hearing is coming from your VHS player!!! The customer apologized profusely. I suggested he go out and buy a DVD player!

Mike McGoldrick
Service Supervisor
Environmental Health Services, Inc.

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA

Click on image to Enlarge

So what are you looking at??? This is the unofficial-official “Mice Trap Gauntlet”

So the story goes...... a homeowner in Rhode Island has been battling mice for over a year. They tried several methods of “do it yourself” pest control and failed miserably. The mice were getting worse. They called EHS to solve the long-standing mice issue. When I get there I see this VERY elaborate contraption in the kitchen. The homeowner explained to me the mouse trap that was made up of 13 mouse traps.

The goal of the trap is to kill the mice as they investigate the food (peanut butter) but if they survive the 1st wave of traps then they go up the “ramp of death”.

They then try to get to the peanut butter smeared on the soda bottle, it then spins causing them to fall into the pit where additional traps wait for them. According to the homeowner it took two hours to create. They realized they could spend their time on better things plus all their efforts & they still had mice! There was a happy ending, EHS eliminated the mouse issue.

Tim Lynch
Service Specialist

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA

Flea's Jump Analyzed By Scientists

The age-old mystery of how fleas jump 100 times their height has been solved - and it's their toes not legs that are key.

It has long been known that fleas store the energy needed to catapult themselves up in an elastic-like pad above the hind legs.

But there has been 44 years of constant debate about how the tiny insects use this energy to travel around 100 times their height.

And now, in the first study of its kind, two researchers used high speed recording equipment to examine the exact movements involved and proved that they push off using their toes.

Using hedgehog fleas, they filmed 51 jumps from 10 of the animals.

In the majority of jumps, two parts of the flea's complicated legs - the toe and knee - were in contact with the ground for the push off.

But in 10 per cent of the jumps, only the toe touched the ground.

The duo could see that the insects continued accelerating during take-off - even when the knee was no longer pushing down - and those that jumped without using the knee accelerated in exactly the same way as those that jumped using both the knee and toe.

Furthermore, when they looked at the flea's leg with scanning electron microscopy - a microscope in which a finely focused beam of electrons is scanned across them - the shin and toe had gripping claws but the knee was completely smooth - so it couldn't get a good enough grip to push off.

They suspected that the insects push down through the shin onto the toe, as previous research has suggested, but they needed a mathematical model to reproduce the flea's movement and prove their argument.

Source = The telegraph

George Williams,
General Manager - Staff Entomologist

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA

Westlake High Cafeteria Closed Down by Rodent Infestation

The cafeteria at Westlake High School in Thousand Oaks was shut down earlier this week because of a rodent infestation and unsanitary conditions, officials said.

County environmental health inspected the site Tuesday and suspended its license until the problems could be resolved. The cafeteria was closed Wednesday and has remained shuttered as staff correct the issues, said, Superintendent Jeffrey Baarstad of the Conejo Valley Unified School District.

In the meantime, the county OK'd the school serving prepackaged food on the quad. That food is prepared in the district's central kitchen.

"We've been aware of the problem," Baarstad said. Over the past week and a half, the school used exterminators and worked to stop rodents from getting inside the building but wasn't able to fix the problem in time.

The issue likely stems from extensive renovation work on the large building that houses the cafeteria, kitchen and theater, along with the site's proximity to a barranca and the hillside. Rodents can squeeze in any gap or hole left unsealed — even if it's just the size of a quarter, Baarstad said.

Maintenance staff at the school are working to seal any holes, exterminators are getting rid of rodents already inside and cleaning crews also are working on the site, according to the district.

Baarstad hopes to be ready for inspection as early as Monday. With an OK from the county, the cafeteria could reopen by Tuesday.

The environmental health agency inspects about 4,000 food facilities throughout the county, including restaurants, markets, produce stands and more, said Elizabeth Huff, manager of the community services section of environmental health. School cafeterias are inspected two to three times a year to make sure they are in compliance.

Westlake High sent letters home with students on Wednesday to let them know about the closure.

"It's certainly not the letter you want to write home to parents," Baarstad said. But there were reasons why it happened, and the district is working to make sure all issues are cleared up, he said.

Source = vcstar.com

George Williams,
General Manager - Staff Entomologist

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA

Rat Attacks Baby’s Face

A baby boy left sleeping in his stroller outside a Copenhagen apartment block was bitten on the face by rats this week.

The boy was left sleeping in his stroller in the courtyard of an apartment complex in the center of Copenhagen on Wednesday evening. Apparently this is common behavior in Denmark, despite the cold and other obvious dangers. As soon as the parents discovered the baby’s injuries they called an ambulance and the toddler was rushed to hospital for emergency treatment.

The boy’s father later told reporters from Denmark’s Ekstra Bladet newspaper that the youngster had been bitten by rats on the face, close to his eye. Other residents from the apartment complex also told the reporters that there was a current vermin problem as dozens of rats try to escape the harsh winter conditions looking for somewhere warm to hide.

Rats are known to attack babies, and they will go for the soft tissue areas such as the eyes. There have been more than one case of death caused by rats eating babies.

Source; Morningstarr

George Williams,
General Manager - Staff Entomologist

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA

Near South Side Bakery Closed After Inspectors Find Rats, Unsafe Food

A Near South Side bakery was shut down after city inspectors found something customers aren’t too fond of - rats and food stored at unsafe temperatures.

Mayor Daley’s Dumpster Task Force shut down St. Anna’s Bakery, 2158 S. Archer Ave., Thursday due to a rat infestation and unsafe food holding temperatures, according to a release from the city’s Dept. of Streets & Sanitation.

Inspectors visited the bakery in response to a complaint about rodent activity and found more than 70 rate droppings throughout the kitchen. Inspectors also found St. Anna’s had problems with the temperatures in their walk-in cooler.

Food temperatures ranged from 50 to 60 degrees and more than 400 pounds of food had to be thrown away, the release said.

St. Anna’s was closed for the critical violations of inadequate pest control and for failure to protect foods from contamination. The bakery must correct their rodent problems, revamp their housekeeping and pest control programs and repair their cooler before they can request and pass a detailed re-inspection.

Source = Chicago Sun Times

George Williams,
General Manager - Staff Entomologist

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA