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You are here: Home / Food Pests / Prevention and Control, Integrated Control / C. Prevention and control / 4. Packaging

4. Packaging

When you find pests in unopened packagings, the explanation might be that they arrived with the goods. However, it is also a possibility that they have penetrated through the packaging either in the storage, the store or at the customers’ homes. But no matter how it happened the consumer will inevitably make the manufacturer responsible for the pests’ presence.

It is therefore not sufficient to ensure that the product is free from pests when it leaves the factory. One must also seek to protect against invasions during storage and distribution. This is partly done with appropriate packaging.

Some insects can bite into the goods through containers of paper or plastic – the lesser grain borer, the cigarette beetle and the bolting cloth beetle – that are pests that are not very common in Northern Europe. Gnawings on packagings are due to more common pests that have eaten their way from the inside out. Moth larvae will often gnaw their way out of the package in which they lived before they pupate. Newly hatched drugstore beetles can chew through the packaging through small circular holes.

Bacon beetles and other beetles of the genus Dermestes likes to chip away in cardboard or other semi-soft materials, such as wood, before they pupate. Skin beetles that might have lived in a batch of dog food can do secondary damage to consignments stored nearby.

It is therefore very few insects that can gnaw into a packaging from the outside, but many are able to force their way through small leaks in packaging. It has been calculated that 3/4 of all invasions happen this way.

Adult insects often lay their eggs in cracks or holes in the packaging, where the scent of the product leaks out. When the eggs hatch, the quite small, active larvae squeeze their way through very small cracks. Invasions of moths, drugstore beetles and saw-toothed grain beetles frequently happen that way. Metal cans and glass with tight fitting lid are probably the only packagings that provide 100 % protection against insects and mites.

Hessian, cotton, rayon and other textiles protect poorly and even worse, as the weave is looser. Most of the pests that seek out foods can squeeze through the mesh or find adequate holes at closings and seams.

Tightly woven cotton bags can be done almost insect proof for up to six months when the seams are secured with tape and surface-treated with an insect repellent agent with pyrethrin and piperonyl butoxide.

Paper and cardboard provide better protection against insect infestations than textiles. Dense paper packaging protects against pests that cannot gnaw their way in, and provides some protection against less efficient rodents. The thicker the paper packaging, the more protection. Saw-toothed grain beetles may penetrate through a single layer of thin paper, but they will rarely be able to penetrate thick paper. The weak points of paper packaging are closings such as stitching in paper bags. Cardboard which offer good protection against most pests has weak points where the package is folded and glued. A powerful tape at closings and folds can make cardboard packaging virtually insect proof.

Cellophane is similar in strength to thin paper. Cellophane packaging is often ruined by cockroaches.

The advantage of plastic film is that it is usually easy to seal products completely, e.g. by heat welding. Such undamaged packaging provides safe protection against all the non-chewing insects. Metal foils are more resistant to chewing insects than paper and plastic, but they are not insect-proof. Pests as the lesser grain borer and grain rodents go effortlessly through an aluminium foil.

Peculiar findings of insects in foods, such as earwigs in spirit or woodlice in a glass of aspirin, are in many cases due to pests having strayed into the packaging at the storage. It is therefore important to retain the packaging in rooms which can be kept free from invasions of pests from the outside.

  • About
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Henri Mourier
Biologist at Statens Skadedyrslaboratorium
Author of:
"Pests in House and Home"
"Bed Bugs - Bites, Stings and Itches"
"Food Pests"
"Husets dyreliv" (Insects Around the House - Only danish)
"Skadedyr i træ" (Timber Pests - Only danish)
"Stuefluen" (Common Housefly - Only danish)
Latest posts by Henri Mourier (see all)
    Food Pests
    Introduction
    An old problem
    Competition for food
    Pests can ruin stored goods
    Why not just eat the insects
    Some insects are unhealthy to eat
    Allergy to pests
    Transmission of infectious diseases
    Where do pests come from?
    Synanthrope species
    (1) The house dust mite and the sugar mite
    (2) The firebrat and the silverfish
    (3) The German cockroach and the forest cockroach
    (4) The rust-red flour beetle and the confused flour beetle
    (5) The merchant grain beetle and the saw-toothed grain beetle
    (6) The cigarette beetle and the drugstore beetle
    (7) The rice weevil and the granary weevil
    (8) The pharaoh ant and the common black ant
    History of the dark flour beetle
    Pests in bird’s nests
    Mould fauna
    The Look and Behaviour of pests
    Insect appearance
    Internal
    Insect development
    Insect senses
    Behaviour
    Water and Moisture
    Temperature
    What insects live off and live in
    The Air
    Mites
    Bug Indentification
    The various species
    Mites
    The flour mite
    The sugar mite
    The common house mite
    The Lardoglyphus zacheri
    The prune mite
    The cheese mite
    The house dust mite
    The Cheyletus eruditus
    Silverfish
    The Silverfish
    The firebrat
    Cockroaches
    The German cockroach
    The Oriental cockroach
    The brown-banded cockroach
    The American cockroach
    The extermination of cockroaches
    Crickets
    Earwigs
    Booklice
    Butterflies
    The Mediterranean flour moth
    The warehouse moth
    Tropical warehouse moth
    The brown house moth
    The Indian meal moth
    Grain beetles
    The saw-toothed grain beetle
    The merchant grain beetle
    The rust-red grain beetle
    Flour beetles
    The yellow mealworm beetle
    The lesser mealworm beetle
    The dark flour beetle
    The confused flour beetle
    The rust-red flour beetle
    The bolting cloth beetle
    Furniture beetles
    The drugstore beetle
    The cigarette beetle
    Bostrychidae
    The lesser grain borer
    True weevils snout beetles
    The granary weevil
    The rice weevil
    The corn weevil
    Bean weevils
    The common bean weevil
    The coffee bean weevil
    Skin beetles
    The bacon beetle
    The dermestid beetle
    The leather beetle
    The khapra beetle
    The reesa vespulae
    Chequered beetles
    The red-legged ham beetle
    The red-breasted copra beetle
    The black-legged ham beetle
    Spider beetles
    The Australian spider beetle
    The white-marked spider beetle
    The golden spider beetle
    The smooth spider beetle
    Plaster beetles
    Flies
    The common house fly
    The lesser house fly
    Blowflies
    The grey flesh fly
    The cheese skipper
    Fruit flies
    Hymenoptera
    The common black ant
    The pharaoh ant
    Wasps
    Birds
    The domestic pigeon
    The house sparrow
    Prevention and control of birds
    Rodents
    The house mouse
    The yellow-necked mouse
    Mouse prevention
    Mouse control
    The brown rat
    The black rat
    Rat prevention
    Rat control
    Imaginary pests
    Niches of food pests
    A: The Waste Niche
    B: The seed niche
    C: The dead plant niche
    D: The sugary excrement niche
    E: The carrion niche
    Prevention and Control, Integrated Control
    A. Inspection of the company and its environment
    The environment
    The premises
    Examination of raw materials and food on site
    Sampling
    Laboratory methods for detection of pests in food
    B. Statement of the problem
    C. Prevention and control
    1. Proper organisation of the company
    2. Proper operation
    3. Exclusion, proofing buildings
    4. Packaging
    5. Non-chemical control measures
    6. Chemical control
    D: Effective monitoring and communication
    Practical information
    Index

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