About this course
Basic Pest Control introduces Integrated Pest Management (IPM), the prevention-first approach food facilities use to keep insects, rodents, and birds from contaminating product, packaging, and storage areas. IPM combines structural exclusion (sealing gaps, screening, proper door seals), sanitation (eliminating food and water sources pests need), and monitoring (traps, insect light traps, and bait stations) ahead of chemical treatment, which is used as a targeted last resort rather than a routine first response.
Pest control is treated as a required prerequisite program under the FDA's Current Good Manufacturing Practice regulations (21 CFR Part 117), and it is also a specific requirement in third-party food safety schemes such as SQF, BRCGS, and FSSC 22000. A pest control failure is a direct food safety hazard: pests carry pathogens, contaminate product with droppings, hair, or body parts, and can trigger regulatory findings or customer audit failures on their own.
This course is intended for all employees, since anyone on the floor may be the first to notice pest activity — droppings, gnaw marks, live or dead pests, or nesting material — long before a scheduled service visit.
After completing this course, learners will understand the principles of IPM, know how to recognize signs of pest activity, understand why doors, drains, and unsealed openings matter, and know how to report a pest sighting through the correct internal channel.
Topics covered
- IPM principles: exclusion, sanitation, monitoring, and control
- Recognizing signs of pest activity
- Trap and device placement and awareness
- Employee reporting responsibilities
Want this tailored to your facility's policies? Build your own with AI or book a demo.