Pest control for restaurants and food premises

For a kitchen, pests aren't only a hygiene problem. They're an inspection finding, a bad review and, at worst, a closed door. This guide is for owners, chefs and managers who'd rather never find out.

Running a food business without pests takes three things working together: a professional pest control programme with proper records, a building that doesn't let pests in, and a kitchen routine that gives them nothing to live on. The pest controller handles the first, the landlord or builder the second, and your staff the third. If any one of them slips, pests find the gap. This guide covers what an inspector expects to see, and the habits that keep your kitchen clean between our visits.

What an inspector looks at

Food premises in South Africa operate under the hygiene regulations known as R638, and need a certificate of acceptability from the municipality. Environmental health practitioners who inspect your premises will look at pest control from two angles.

The paperwork. They'll want to see that a professional is managing pests, not just that someone sprays now and then. That means a file with your service agreement, a plan of the premises showing where every bait station and monitor is, reports from each visit, and the safety data sheets for the products used.

The premises. Then they look for evidence that it's working: droppings in the dry store, cockroaches behind the dishwasher, fly activity around the bins, gaps under the back door, food stored on the floor, a drain without a cover. A neat file means little if the kitchen tells a different story.

Retailers, franchise owners and export customers who audit against HACCP or similar systems ask the same questions in more detail.

What belongs in your pest file

Keep one file, paper or digital, that any manager can find in a minute:

• The current service agreement and the pest control company's registration details
• The site plan with numbered stations and monitors
• Every service report, in date order
• Safety data sheets for each product used on the premises
• A sightings log where staff record any pest seen between visits: what, where, when, and what was done
• Notes of proofing work done, like a door seal replaced or a drain cover fitted

The sightings log is easy to forget, and it's one of the most useful things in the file. It shows an inspector that staff are paying attention, and it tells us exactly where to look.

Where pests hide in a commercial kitchen

German cockroaches are the main kitchen insect, and they live in the warm, greasy places nobody cleans behind:

• Dishwasher motors and the gap behind the unit
• Fridge and freezer door seals and compressor housings
• Under the pass and the edges of stainless steel tables
• Inside microwaves, toasters, the bain-marie and the coffee machine
• Behind the till, the POS screen and wall-mounted dispensers
• In cracks in tiles and under loose skirting

Rodents come in through gaps under doors, open roller doors at delivery time, drains and the roof, and they head for the dry store. Flies breed in bins, grease traps and waste areas, and come in through open doors and windows. Our cockroach control, rodent control and fly control pages cover each one.

The closing-time routine

Ten minutes at the end of service saves weeks of trouble.

1. Clear every crumb and scrap from under and behind equipment, not just from the surfaces
2. Wipe down and dry sinks and drain boards. Cockroaches need water more than food
3. Empty all bins inside the kitchen and close the lids of the outside ones
4. Put all food away into sealed containers. Nothing left out overnight, including bread and garnishes
5. Close and lock all doors and windows, and make sure fly screens are shut
6. Put plugs in floor drains or check the covers are in place

Deliveries and the dry store

Pests often arrive with the stock.

• Check deliveries at the door, before they come inside. Look for droppings, gnawed packaging and live insects in boxes and crates
• Unpack cardboard outside or straight away, and get the boxes out of the building
• Keep stock off the floor on shelving, with a gap behind and underneath so you can see and clean
• First in, first out. Old stock at the back of a shelf is where weevils and moths start
• Decant flour, rice, maize meal and similar goods into sealed bins

The building

Some problems can only be fixed with a screwdriver or a builder. Look for these and get them on the maintenance list:

• Gaps under external doors, especially the back door and the delivery door
• Damaged fly screens
• Missing or broken drain covers
• Holes where pipes and cables go through walls
• Gaps around ceiling boards and open ceiling voids above the kitchen

If a customer sees a cockroach

Stay calm and deal with the customer first. Then:

1. Write it in the sightings log: time, table, where it came from if anyone saw
2. Check that area of the dining room and the kitchen nearest to it the same evening
3. Don't spray an aerosol in the dining room or kitchen. It contaminates surfaces and scatters cockroaches into new hiding places
4. Call us for a follow-up visit

A single sighting in the dining room often means a bigger population somewhere nearby. Finding it fast is what keeps it a single sighting.

Small kitchens count too

Coffee shops, B&B breakfast kitchens, farm stalls, food trucks and home bakeries selling to the public all prepare food, and the same principles apply on a smaller scale. A guest house that serves breakfast to holidaymakers needs to be just as careful as a restaurant.

How we work with food businesses

We survey the premises, set up a programme with a site plan and scheduled visits, and treat with products suited to food environments: gel baits placed in cracks, crevices and equipment, rodent stations in sensible positions, and residual treatments kept away from food and prep surfaces. Every visit leaves a report for your file. The commercial pest control page explains the contract side.

To arrange a site survey for your restaurant, call 044 012 5011 or contact us online.