E.D.P.A.I.®

blankThe E.D.P.A.I.® (Direct Examination of Industrial Environmental Dusts) is a method of monitoring that detects the sites of development of insects and mites that infest the agri-food factories. This examination is carried out in the Laboratories of the Urania Research Centre on the dust samples collected from the floor of the warehouses and the production rooms; a targeted collection, which must be carried out by operators of the same company having easy access to the most critical points of the various production sectors.

What is the use of E.D.P.A.I.®? The E.D.P.A.I.® is an examination aimed mainly at the search for larval outbreaks of pests, whose presence is revealed in the factory BEFORE they can damage the foodstuffs, whereas the common monitoring systems reveal the pests after the damage has been done. The function of E.D.P.A.I.® is, therefore, first of all PREVENTIVE. Moreover,  this examination allows to isolate all the developing pests, which are hidden in fissures and crevices, and allows to reveal also the presence of microscopic mites that colonize the food product sand which are often at the origin of many allergic problems. Through the E.D.P.A.I.®  the food factory is under control, as infested premises are detected immediately and pests can be eliminated even before they reach the adult stage and are intercepted by traps, bright or pheromones, which are generally present in the factory.

How to implement a business control plan through E.D.P.A.I.®? It’s very simple. First, the monitoring sites are to be found. The company itself chooses the withdrawal points that it considers most at risk and a general screening of the factory is usually carried out through E.D.P.A.I.®.  Once the critical points have been identified, the E.D.P.A.I.® can be executed monthly, so that the company has control over all its premises and can decide where, when and if it is necessary to intervene with a pest treatment. This will avoid generic and polluting treatments allowing the company itself to decide whether to intervene immediately, or only in certain sites, or wait.  The decision of the interventions is no longer at the discretion of the exterminator, but is made by the company in relation to the periodic results of the E.D.P.A.I.®.

Does the E.D.P.A.I.® replace other monitoring systems? No, but it’s complementary. The decision to treat must be aware and cannot be entrusted to general and periodic insecticidal treatments. The adhesive light traps are often badly placed and collect, in large part, harmless insects of external origin. The exterminator bases its treatments in relation to the quantity of insects caught and not the species of insects present in the factory.  This determines the decision to deal frequently even where there is no need. In any case, the company is completely in his hands and does not decide anything. With E.D.P.A.I.® is the opposite.

How much does it cost to monitor a factory with E.D.P.A.I.®? The cost of examining a single dust sample through E.D.P.A.I.® is Euro 50.00 (plus VAT). The cost of a number of not less than 10 monthly samples for 6 months’examination, is Euro 25.00 (plus VAT) per sample. This is because monitoring a factory with E.D.P.A.I.®  makes sense only if there is a periodicity of at least six months. A medium/large company generally performs monthly monitoring of about 25 sites at risk.

Is it possible to read the adhesive panels of the light traps? Yes, certainly it is.  We can identify in the panels all the arthropods of interest for the company, differentiating from those harmless for food products. It is an examination that we perform within 48 hours from the reception of panels with a cost of Euro 50.00 (plus VAT) per panel. The periodic control of more than ten monthly panels for six months has  a cost reduction of 50%. The qualitative examination of the adhesive panels is very useful to identify the recurrent species of pests in order to a subsequent use of pheromone traps and it is very useful, in ham factories and dairies, to monitor the entrance of the fly Piophila casei (cheese fly) in the curing rooms, before it causes damages.

blank                                                          Larvae of Ephestia kuehniella