Abalon Stored Product Pest Control & Extermination

Stored Product Pests are a huge problem to everyone. They often come in boxes of goods from factories. They will be in the form of larvae and very quickly damage thousands of dollars of dried goods and often require the disposal of others to prevent fines or closure from 3rd party inspection.

One such pest is the Indian Mean Moth (picured below).

The eggs of the Indian meal moth are whitish, ovate and very small. Because of their small size, they are difficult to see without the aid of a microscope. Eggs are deposited on the grain surface singularly or in groups of twelve to thirty.

Newly hatched larvae are very small and difficult to see. Fully grown larvae are one-half to five-eights of an inch in length with a brownish head capsule. Larvae of the meal moth spin a web as they become fully grown and leave behind silken threads wherever they crawl. The webbing is often sufficiently abundant to attract attention. Loosely clinging webbing on the grain is characteristic of this pest.

These insects lay between 100 - 300 eggs that will hatch in 2-14 days. You can imagine the havoc if only once is in a product that is being shipped!

Direct damage to grain is the result of larvae feeding on the seed germ. In grain to be sold for human or animal consumption, meal moth feeding reduces the dry weight. At the same time, grain weight may actually increase because of water absorption; with an increase in water content mold can become a problem. The biggest reduction in value is the result of contamination by larvae that leave droppings and silken webs in the grain. The presence of live insects and insect parts can result in dockage of the grain when sold.

Other stored product pest are grain beetles and weevils that will do similar and sometimes worse damage.

What do you do? Call us @ 212-685-0505 We will come over and give you a free inspection to determine the problem and set up a plan specific to your needs.