Pest Control

Pest Control

Pest control involves preventing pest access to your food premises. This is to avoid the contamination of food stuffs both directly (access to food) and indirectly (access to food preparation areas). 
Pests include rats, mice, cockroaches, ants, seagulls and flies.
It is not a legal requirement to have a pest control contract but it is a legal requirement to take all reasonable steps to prevent pests gaining entry into your food business. It is enough for you to carry out your own routine checks to determine whether any works are necessary, for example if your back door is ill-fitting and there is a gap to the bottom you may need to affix a brush strip.When assessing your premises for pest entry points a good rule of thumb is that if you can push a pen through a hole then it is highly likely that a 
mouse will be able to enter the premises at this point.
Good tips to minimise the risk of pests are: 
1.  Keep all outdoor bin areas clean and free from food debris 
2.  Routinely check your premises for pest entry points
3.  Do not leave food out
4.  Keep open packets of food in sealed containers
5.  Ensure that your premises are maintained in a clean condition
6.  Keep lids on your used oil
7.  Make sure that outdoor drainage areas are kept clean
8.  Consider the use of fly screens on windows and doors
9.  Change the bulb on electric insect killers annually