Making a Big Impact on Small Flies in Australia

Based on this investigation, the Ecolab Pest Elimination team took immediate action to mitigate the rising small fly pressure, including performing corrective actions to address broken and missing drain covers, and performing additional treatments to rapidly reduce small fly activity. The Ecolab Food and Beverage team revised the plant’s SSOPs and MSS, increasing the frequency and comprehensiveness of the plant’s drain-cleaning procedures. Ecolab then conducted a joint training for all of the plant staff on the new SSOPs and MSS.

Solution

Ecolab provided targeted actions and improvements to rapidly reduce small fly activity by over 500%. Using the updated SSOPs and MSS — including more frequent and rigorous drain cleaning — the plant has sustained that reduction for over 16 consecutive months. In fact, recent data shows small fly activity trending further downward. The dramatic reduction in small fly activity represents an equally significant improvement from a food safety perspective.

By addressing the root cause of the problem —removing the bio-matter and biofilm in drains — together, the Ecolab teams removed the key small fly breeding ground and eliminated a dangerous source of pathogenic microorganisms. The success of this initiative sparked an internal culture change around sanitation at that particular plant, as well as around drains across their global network. The company asked Ecolab to develop a training piece on small fly food safety to share and further embed new practices in the plant culture.