Dynamic IPM Update

May 2024 Issue:

Dynamic IPM Update by John Moore, MSc

 

Pest control as an industry has been and still is largely viewed as a cost of doing business for food manufacturers and production.  Something that manufacturers and processors were required to have to be compliant but did not understand the need for until something went wrong.

FSMA (January 4, 2011) Attempted to change that by requiring more accountability for food safety.  It provided for things like mandated “preventive controls”. This would include pest control.  This meant that pest control actually had to provide what its name implied, Pest control!  The food industry, however, was slow to implement because of costs and a lack of understanding pest control’s impact on food safety as well as brand image and consumer confidence.

Pest control was still nothing more than a compliance-based program that got them through audits with a passing score.  We were (and still are in many cases) still viewed as the cost of doing business, nothing more.  The food industry at large had the flawed belief that a compliant pest control program meant that they were absolved of any real responsibility for pest-related risks to food safety and quality because a third party said they were compliant. 

We (FSS) know that these compliance-based programs are not based on reality, or science in any way.  So, not much has changed since 2011 from the food industry perspective.  The belief in compliant programs as safe and as a cost of doing business is still prevalent.  However, this belief system is changing, slowly, but changing.  This change in a small way has been driven by FSS.

The need to change this broken system is why we decided to create DynamicIPM.  Stop trying to compete in the race to the bottom and support a broken system that does not actually support food safety or quality.  If what we are doing does not make sense, does not support food safety, does not protect the brand, or is low value to the customer, stop doing it!

To be successful at being different we needed to get the food industry’s attention and change the narrative.  Show them the flaws and vulnerabilities in their current perception of IPM or pest control.  Show the food industry what is missing from their IPM program, Brand Protection and Consumer Safety.

This is where DynamicIPM came from.  We recognized that there is a better, more impactful way to serve the food industry.  We should stop doing things that don’t make sense or have value to the industry.  Stop perpetuating the idea that a white-line device-compliance focused service is pest control.

 

We recognized some truths that the industry at large either does not understand or is choosing to ignore:

 

1.           Device-focused service is not pest control.

2.           Device-focused service does not help the customer beyond being “compliant”.

3.           Device-focused service does not address the many pest-related risks associated with food manufacturing and processing.

4.           Device-focused service does support what pest control was meant to be.

We are determined to change this perception by redefining what pest control means and its purpose.  The Dynamic IPM service model is the way to do this.  Stop wasting time and money on low-value tasks that only meet a compliance need.  We have already established that “compliant” does not mean much when talking about food safety and consumer confidence.

Our purpose and responsibility are to Protect the customer’s brand and consumer safety by identifying and mitigating pest-related risks to food safety and quality.

Future? 3-5 years

Dynamic IPM will continue to be…. Well? Dynamic.  We will continue to innovate and continue to disrupt the market.  We have an outstanding reputation and work hard to protect it.

Predictions – Compliance with old standards will become less important. Compliance devices (white line) will slowly fade away.   Compliance as a measuring tool for food safety will become obsolete.  Price will become less of a determining factor when choosing a PCO.  This will move the decision from procurement back to quality and food safety where it belongs.  No longer will we be viewed as contract labor like landscaping and snow removal.