What a food-safety inspector actually looks for

Pest control in a food business is not only about whether there are pests. It is about whether you can show what you do about them.

The paperwork

A site plan with numbered bait points and monitors, and a written report from each visit, answers most of the questions before they are asked. Without it, the honest answer to "what is your pest control programme?" is "we ring someone when we see something", and that is not a programme.

The physical points

• Gaps under external doors — a mouse needs the width of a pen
• Fly killer units sited away from open food, with glue boards actually changed
• Bins with lids, away from the door, emptied and cleaned
• No stock stored directly on the floor or hard against a wall
• Drains maintained, since drain flies and American cockroaches come up them

The one that catches people out

Rodenticide in a food preparation area. Where we can, we monitor with non-toxic blocks first, which shows where the activity is without putting poison near food — and it looks a great deal better on the day of an inspection.