Electronic Fly killer EFK

Any premises that needs to install and EFK or Electronic Fly killer will know the potential risks that flies can cause to foodstuffs in food preparation areas. these can include:

• Potential to spread pathogens or diesease
• Compliance of Healthy and Safety Legislation
• Contamination of food and work surfaces and equipment

However are the traditonally used electric grid type fly killers best practice?

These standard type of EFK have ultraviolet lamps to attract the target pest towards the grid, when they reach the grid, current passes through them and this electrocutes the fly. When this happens they can explode, projecting out small particles of insect into the surrounding environment. These particles will then land on foodstuffs and work surfaces, causing contamination. In a food production environment this could lead to non compliance with food safety legislation, and make customers and users of the premises unwell.

It is standard practice (at least for us at West Country!) to utilise an EFK that uses a ultraviolet LED array surrounded by a sticky board. This will encapsulate the insect and enable proper species identification and enable correct trend analysis.

Trend analysis is the study of data, in this case insects, to identify patterns or trends that can be used to make decisions surrounding a properly implemented integrated pest management service.

Auditors and assessors always expect to see comprehensive pest management records when visiting their customers’ sites. This often includes trending analysis for fly species, especially in sensitive areas such as food production floors.