Acheta | News

What's new at Acheta

Our new baby! We are in the process of introducing our new Excel-based reporting package, which we believe is the most advanced pest control report format available. Called (perhaps unsurprisingly) Premium^Excel, this is a highly visual and interactive system, which allows recommendations and actions to be filtered in a multitude of ways, making it far easier to allocate tasks to those responsible, and to track progress in closing these out. Also included is an updated (for BRC Issue 6) QA report form, our unique quantitative assessment of the performance of your pest control contractor. Further information about our inspection services is available on the 'Inspection' tab at the top of the page.

Field Biologists; worth the bother? Virtually all food manufacturing, processing, storage and retail sites have one or more Field Biologist inspections as part of the contracted pest control arrangments. However, what are the objectives of these inspections, and do they meet the needs of the customer? This article may be viewed and downloaded from the 'Free to Download' publications section of this site.

BRC Standards: Our updated guide for Issue 6 The BRC Standards are the most common food inustry standard within the UK. The pest control requirements for food manufacturing plants and storage and distribution warehouses are quite demanding. Guidance issued by BRC contains further recommendations which auditors are increasingly requesting be put in place. In our guide we provide our interpretation of the pest control requirements of the BRC standards for food manufacturing and warehousing. Freely available for download in the publications section of this website.

Internal rodent monitoring options Rodent monitoring inside food manufacturing plants has traditionally been done using toxic baits. However, driven by changes to rodenticide labels and the demands of auditors and retailers, this situation is changing. In this guide we review the current situation (as at September 2011) and consider what the options are now, and for the future. Our free guide is available in the FREE publications section of this website.

Pest control qualifications Professional pest control requires trained, experienced and competent service personnel. Proper training from the start, and a continuous commitment to improving and updating skills, is imperative. For due diligence reasons it is essential that those managing pest control contracts appreciate the qualification structures within the industry, in order to verify that the people servicing their site are suitably trained. The pest control qualifications structure is explained in our guide, freely available for download in the publications section of this website.

Pest control contract management Pest control is a pre-requisite in any environment where food is stored, manufactured, prepared or eaten. As this service is generally contracted out effective management of the contractor is essential if the relationship is to be effective. This course, run in conjunction with The Society of Food Hygiene and Technology, will provide the information and advice necessary for successful implementation and management of the pest control contract. More information is available by clicking the 'Training' tab above.

Moth traps; are some better than others? Monitoring of stored product moths is essential wherever commodities vulnerable to infestation by them are stored, handled or processed. Most such monitoring is done using funnel traps. However, are these the most effective trap? We have independently conducted comparative trials on several different types of trap.... with interesting results. These are available to download in the publications section of this website.

Job opportunity with Acheta Consulting Ltd The company is growing rapidly and we are always on the look out for suitably qualified and experienced people to join our team. We are ideally looking for experienced Field Biologists, but recognise that we are fishing in a small pond, so will consider taking on a less experienced individual who shows potential. If you are interested in joining us then please send your CV to John Simmons