For almost fifty years EcoPest's management and staff have partnered with our clients in food processing and handling facilities. Working in southern and mid-Michigan, we have extensive experience in food safety and organic pest management practices.
EcoPest is well versed in all aspects of food safety. We understand both the regulatory environment and private sector certification standards. Our programs are turn-key, providing your Food Safety Plan with a professionally written program that has been benchmarked under NSF, AIB International and all of the Global Food Safety Initiative accredited schemes.
Our new clients are most frequently referred to us by other clients and food safety professionals that know first-hand about our work and our excellent track record.
Contact us today for a consultation or a reference from one of our many long-standing clients.
As a second generation Structural Pest Management service provider, EcoPest LLC is unapparelled in our experience in Food Handling and Processing facilities. Our written programs are continuously updated as we are commented to a process of Continual Improvement.
Pest management is one of the core prerequisite programs in any food safety plan. Yet the success of any pest management plan is the proper design of the program, including polies and procedures, a detailed site plan and an effective pest monitoring strategies.
EcoPest understands the regulatory and private sector requirements that food processors and handlers face, and we have highly developed tools to assist our clients on their path to continuous improvement.
Food Safety is at the core of what we do. With over twenty-five years experience of consulting and advising our clients on food safety matters, we have helped dozens of organizations develop their entire food safety plan. From basic regulatory requirements to the advanced requirements of the many schemes under the Global Food Safety Initiative.
Our sister company AuditReady, LLC can help your organization succeed in gaining any type of food safety certification you may want to achieve.
Company principle L. Ernest Otter, III is author of this new book which examines his 40 years of experience in pest management and food safety. The Organic Certification process requires additional requirements which must be considered in a food safety plan. The consumers of organic products feel strongly about the use of pesticides and often pay a premium for food products that have been grown with more sustainable practices which limit pesticide use. Farmers establish the organic integrity of the food they grow, food handlers, processors and distributors must maintain that organic integrity. EcoPest is a founding members of the organic community, we have the expertise to develop the practices and procedures that protect the organic integrity of those products.
One of our belove Detroit institutions was the grocery store chain, Farmer Jack. Had It survived, it would have been 100 years old at this writing. Alas. the company who had grown to 100 stores at its peak finally folded in 2007.
EcoPest had the opportunity to join Farmer Jack's team to help transition the company to its new food safety agenda and to update the facilities to gain private sector food safety certification.
Unfortunately Farmer Jack's Borman warehouse had a long history with rodent problems. EcoPest help the facility management develop a management plan to upgrade the building, deep clean the storage areas and systematically work through the building to flush-out and eliminate the rodent infestation.
There was no amount of pesticide that would have solved this building's rodent problem, and in fact no pesticides were used within the building the eliminate the rodent infestation. The combination of management's commitment to upgrade and deep clean the building, under EcoPest's experience and guidance finally allowed this building to maintain complete control. The facilities eventually achieved very high ratings from third-party food inspection agencies.
EcoPest worked for many years for Farmer Jack, until their demise in 2007.
Eden Foods is one of the founding members of the organic foods movement, starting in Ann Arbor as a health food store in the late 1960's. As they expanded and grew into a complete processor and distributor of organic foods, they also lead the way in certification of organic products to substantiate the organic integrity of their products for their customers.
Eden Food Management approached EcoPest management about the pest control procedures used in their food processing areas and food storage areas. Their concern was simple. After requiring their farmers to stop pesticide use for three years before allowing it to be sold as "Organic", why would they let us spray there warehouse's on Friday nights?
The request, and the task at hand was intriguing to the EcoPest owners and staff. EcoPest has worked with Eden Foods since the 1980's to research and develop techniques and procedures to protect food products from both the infiltration of pests, but to protect the organic integrity of the products as well.
EcoPest owner L. Ernest Otter presented the first paper on Organic Structural Pest Management at the 13th Scientific Conference of the International Federation of Organic Agricultural Movements in Copenhagen Denmark in 1997. He is also completing his book, Beyond IPM, An Introduction to Organic Structural Pest Management, which details the concepts and techniques he has developed over his 40 years of work in the food industry.
The presence of Brown Recluse spider in Michigan is a source of much debate. While this species is common in the south, it is too cold in Michigan for it survive winters here. That does not mean that it cannot be transported from other states and still be of concern in Michigan.
In July of 2000, a Brown Recluse was found in one of our clients food processing facilities. As we had not encountered this species of spider before, we contacted both the state entomologist and Dr. Richard Snyder in the zoology department at Michigan State University. Dr. Snyder maintained that the Brown Recluse could not survive in the state of Michigan, yet we had specimen that was clearly a brown recluse spider. Dr. Snyder conformed the species and inspected that food processing facility where we had found the specimen. He did confirm multiple generations of the spider. Brown Recluse was indeed living in the State of Michigan.
EcoPest worked with the client on a plan to eliminate the spider from their facility as well as working with the State of Michigan to help promote that fact that this species had been found in the state so the pest industry could be aware, as well as the medical heath community in case suspicious bites might be reported.
With the change in the environment and global warming. could the Brown Recluse some day be a garden variety in Michigan? Only time will tell. But for now, the only way that BRS is found in Michigan is when it is accidentally brought in from a southern state, and is inside a building with the correct conditions for survival.
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