PEST PROSpectives

How Proactive Pest Control Protects Business Continuity

• Pest Pros of Michigan

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What if pest control were less about spraying and more about protecting your entire operation? In this episode of PEST PROSpectives, we dive into the high-stakes world of commercial pest management where food safety, pharmaceutical integrity, and business continuity hinge on prevention, documentation, and rapid response. 

Tony Sorrentino, ACE at Pest Pros of Michigan, unpacks how accountable IPM turns inspections into opportunities to prove control, not scramble for fixes.

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Pest Pros of Michigan

PEST PROSpectives is a Livemic Communications production.

PEST PROSpectives is a Livemic Communications production.

Richard Piet:

I'm Richard Piet. Welcome back to PEST PROSpectives, the official podcast from the pest pros of Michigan. Today, pretty serious today, we're talking about corporate pest control. What, little pests that dress up in suits and act all corporate? No, but they show up in corporate locations, business locations. And what kind of difference does that make from a pest control perspective? Tony Sorentino's back with us from the Pest Pros of Michigan, assistant certified entomologist, to talk to us about this. That's a title there, Tony.

Tony Sorrentino:

Hey, Richard. Yeah, absolutely. That's why they shortened it to ACE. Yeah, I guess I should just say ACE. Just ace. Um the commercial pest control is is uh um widely discussed. Um, people are always in commercial environments, and it isn't just about killing bugs, it's about protecting processes. When pests interfere with food safety, product integrity, or sterile environments, the impact goes beyond nuisance. It becomes a business continuity issue. Sure. Pest control is part of quality assurance.

Richard Piet:

Yeah. Think about that. If there's a pest that's going to interrupt the flow of business, this is a significant threat to the operations of the business and thus uh a uh uh perhaps more complicated situation than the average uh residential B removal or something like you guys did at my house not long ago. So uh let's talk about what makes it different from your perspective.

Tony Sorrentino:

I talk a lot about IPM, and if anybody's been on here, that's integrated pest management. It's IPM with accountability, it's reducing chemical use and getting to the root cause of what's happening and then stopping that from happening to get uh facilities to a proactive place. We're operating under some pretty serious standards, and you'll hear a lot of I I call it alphabet soup, but it's a lot of acronyms. So here's some little breakdown on that. The FSMA is the Food Safety Modernization Act, and the focus is on preventing issues before they ever threaten food safety. Oh, that sounds good. The AIB is the American Institute of Bakers, and those are the auditors that show up that really care about sanitation and risk. That's our food service. And then uh people are usually pretty familiar with the FDA and the USDA, and those are agencies that regulate certain processed foods and the handling of pharmaceuticals.

Richard Piet:

Yeah. So we're really talking about a significant uh situation, but by extension, really meeting those standards.

Tony Sorrentino:

Right. It's aligning with the rules that keep products safe and keep companies operating.

Richard Piet:

So what's high risk in this situation? A high risk pest?

Tony Sorrentino:

High risk pests are going to be the ones that can shut down a facility quickly. We're looking at stored product pests, rodent infestations because of their ability to traffic pathogens from septic areas to aseptic environments. Cockroaches and flies are the same thing, because I mean, that's where they live, is in filth. So there's a a high propensity for transference of contaminated materials.

Richard Piet:

Yeah, that's no joke. And uh, when you're looking at a situation like that, I presume then it becomes a sense of urgency to try and deal with this as quickly as you can.

Tony Sorrentino:

A lot of these pests are highlighting structural or environmental vulnerabilities that could literally shut down production, food, pharmaceutical. Like these are sensitive environments.

Richard Piet:

Right. And you talk about how these organizations set standards for these kinds of things. I presume then that when you're involved, then there's some compliance and documentation and so on that has to happen as part of your process.

Tony Sorrentino:

Yeah, absolutely. We use a lot of different methodologies to ensure that we're meeting up with the standards. We use strategically placed monitors, detailed trend reporting. We offer sanitation insights and root cause correction so issues don't repeat. Anyone can go out and set traps, but our job is to control conditions and there's no reason for them to be there in the first place.

Richard Piet:

Right. And we certainly have talked about the idea that uh there is some kind of root cause, uh, some kind of avenue that uh is allowing the pests to infiltrate. So uh this is no different, right? You you're still looking for the access points and uh trying to deal with those.

Tony Sorrentino:

Right, absolutely. You don't just walk through and spray baseboards, you're identifying structural vulnerabilities, gaps, cracks, crevices, things that could pose a threat to the discipline of the inside of the structure.

Richard Piet:

Yeah, and your attention to that is just as significant as that of a residential structure, right? You're still looking for the things that cause, yeah, that cause the issues and then trying to correct those.

Tony Sorrentino:

Yep. The difference in high accountability facilities decisions uh have to be data driven. The results have to stand up to inspection. We do apply a lot of the same methodology to the residential accounts that we service as well. There's it's just not documented as well. The process doesn't change, it's just how well we tell the story of what happened.

Richard Piet:

Yeah, when there's accountability, extra accountability involved, then it's a different kind of uh situation. And speaking of that, something happens like this at a business, particularly if it's shut down. Now you've got a business owner or operator who's on you, right? They need immediate response.

Tony Sorrentino:

Yeah, absolutely. We've had it happen where where, you know, and I'm not gonna name any names, we've had it happen where the health department has come in or some of the other monitoring agencies, some of that alphabet soup I was talking about, have shut down facilities due to rodent activity or cockroach infestation, or there's a unsolvable fly issue, no matter what they do, they can't get a hold of the flies. So they call in an ace, they call in an expert, and then we get to the bottom of it, and then we get their facilities to a proactive place.

Richard Piet:

So when that happens, I presume when you're dealing with the business owner or operator, you you've got to work together, right, to try and get at it quickly. You're gonna articulate to them what to expect, I'm presuming.

Tony Sorrentino:

Oh, absolutely. It's all about communication. Pest management is a partnership where we can work together. We have trained eyes that are aware of the situations inside and outside of your home that are looking at it from a different perspective.

Richard Piet:

Give us an example, Tony, about a situation that you were involved in that uh resulted in the solution that business owners want when this happens.

Tony Sorrentino:

We had an ongoing issue. Uh it was at a food handling plant here in the southwest lower Michigan area, and they had drain flies and Ford flies, and it just started, and they couldn't figure out where they were coming from again with the flies, and and nobody knows where they're coming from, nobody knows what where did they come from, where did they go. What happened was I went out personally. This is the value of having an associated certified entomologist on staff, because I'm gonna look at it from an even different perspective from our certified field technicians that are trained, but were trained to a higher degree, a higher level of understanding of the biology and the behavior of the pests. Why are they there? What's causing them to be there? What was the attractant that led them to be there in the first place? And how are we gonna solve this? The forward flies and the drain flies are often a teller of underlying plumbing or sanitation issue. Foreign flies are also called filth flies or humpback flies, and drain flies look, uh, when you look at them, they look like uh they have Mickey Mouse ears. That's one of the major identifiers. They're fuzzy, they call them drain moths or drain flies. Whatever they are, where they breed is in the gradu, and I lovingly refer to that as that gunk that's in the built up in the drains. Yeah. And they live there and they breed there, and their larva and their eggs crawl around in that, and they then fly out of that and come land on my pizza. Yeah. Or uh where I'm preparing food. It's even more sensitive in a food handling facility or a commercial kitchen or pharmaceutical handling manufacturing facility. Like these are critical pests.

Richard Piet:

So an ace can see that pretty quickly and say, okay, this is the kind of fly.

Tony Sorrentino:

There was a break in the plumbing that was sub-floor. We identified it with a smoke test, and um, there was smoke coming out from under the subslab. There was a cast iron pipe that was under the concrete floor that was busted, and they would have never known about that.

Richard Piet:

It wasn't on anyone's radar until the pests discover it. Yeah. So, in a way, those flies helped tell a story that had to be dealt with that maybe they wouldn't have known about until it had gotten worse.

Tony Sorrentino:

It would have been an ongoing issue. No amount of chemical application would have remediated that situation.

Richard Piet:

Wow. All right. So someone's listening to this, they own a business, they want to file away some information for the future, or maybe they're dealing with some kind of an issue now. What's the first couple of things you want them to think about as they're getting ready to reach out to you?

Tony Sorrentino:

Commercial properties, commercial property owners, or the decision makers for these facilities, food handling, pharmaceutical, health care, schools. I want clients that are seeking services to really do an internal audit on the level of satisfaction that you are achieving with your current provider. I would love to have an opportunity to come out. I would love to do uh on-site critical initial facilities assessment and determine uh any chinks in your armor, so to speak, any structural vulnerabilities, any anything on site that could lead to a shutdown.

Richard Piet:

And well ahead of time.

Tony Sorrentino:

Yeah, absolutely.

Richard Piet:

Yeah, want to try to get to any kind of issue uh before it's an issue. So there's a reason to reach out before there's a situation with which you have to deal that threatens.

Tony Sorrentino:

Right, before it turns into a business continuity issue. Yeah, yeah.

Richard Piet:

Continuity is what we want, what we need. Don't want those interruptions. All right, so we've given you some things to think about there as it relates to corporate pest control, and the pest pros of Michigan are prepared to help you with that. Details in the show notes. Just click through and make yourself known and reach out. Also, want to invite you to subscribe to the Pest Perspectives episodes. We've had several of them now. You'll get alerts when those come available. Tony Sorentino, Ace, with Pest Pros of Michigan. Thank you.

Tony Sorrentino:

Thanks, Richard.