Research to formulate insecticides to overcome pests in the dairy industry has thrown up interesting products from time to time, but the search continues to find insecticides specific to targeted pests and which will best contain the menace in the long run, says an official of the Saudi company Masa Establishment for Pest Extermination Services.

Valentin Diego, operations manager, says the dairy industry has been using residual insecticides, which are products applied to obtain insecticidal effects over several hours. These can be applied in cracks and crevices only and not for the treatment of surfaces. The category includes common insecticides such as Diazinon, Propoxur and permethrins.
“The use of many insecticides has come and gone for most urban pest management situations. Several chlorinated solvents, once widely use in formulating insecticides for sensitive areas in the dairy and food industries, have either been discontinued or are under severe regulatory scrutiny,” notes Diego while giving an overview of trends in combating dairy and other food industries pests.
“There are a number of organophosphate and carbamate insecticides which continue to be very effective in most situations. However, there have been increasing reports of resistance to some of these insecticides in field strains of German cockroaches, one of the most common and important pests in dairy industry.
“Today, these two insecticide groups are likely to provide effective action against a variety of pests, but new technology is needed for a longer term.”
Riyadh-based Masa Establishment has 11 branches throughout Saudi Arabia and is expanding its network in the kingdom. The company has gained a strong foothold in the pest control industry and has worked on projects for many clients including individual citizens and top business establishments in the private and public sectors.
Established in 1980, Masa Establishment has a research and development unit under the operations department and staffed by entomology specialists having exposure and experience in public health and agriculture and who can readily be tapped to assist its branches in solving problems.
  Discussing trends, Diego says some newer synthetic pyrethroids have been introduced to the urban pest management industry, particularly for use in food-handling areas and other sensitive places. These insecticides include Permethrin, Fenvalerate and Cypermethrin; all have broad-spectrum activity and relatively fast killing action. They also exhibit substantial residual action against crawling insects like cockroaches, especially Cypermethrin.
But the longer-term trend in the research and development of new insecticidal active ingredients seems to be veering toward groups of chemicals which have very different modes of actions and activity profiles than the traditional materials just discussed, observes Diego.
“While many of these traditional insecticide groups (pyrethroids, organophosphates and carbamates) provide a relatively rapid action by disrupting ordinary nervous system functions, most of the newer materials will act on other physiological systems within the insect. Some may not directly kill the insects at all.”
 “Interestingly,” says Diego, “most of these materials have a slower action than materials used in the past. Most will require days or weeks to produce their result compared to minutes or hours. Many will probably be effective against a rather narrow range of pests; and often only in rather specialised formulations such as baits. These materials should offer distinct advantages such as high specific efficacy and greater safety to non-target organisms.”
The official also spoke of another group of new insecticides - the insect growth regulation (IGR) Hydroprene and Methoprene — which mimic the insect’s own juvenile hormones to disrupt growth and development, causing premature death or sterility.
Although their action in controlling pests is slow, these IGRs have been very useful for controlling such urban pests as fleas, certain ants, mosquitoes, some stored product pests and cockroaches, comments Diego.
He referred to another group of chemicals, called “chitin inhibitors”, which may have a big impact on urban pest management, especially against cockroaches in food areas.
These materials inhabit the formation of chitin, which is the material responsible for the structural strength of the insect’s cuticle. An immature insect must form a new cuticle every time that it molts, therefore, it needs to make chitin. Thus chitin inhibitors will kill immature stages of insects within 1-2 molts after they are exposed to an effective dose of the material, Diego explains.
There are several other groups of slow-kill toxicants under development, which may become registered. An area of technology development is biological control organisms. There appears to be substantial potential for identifying, improving and commercialising various organisms that are pathogenic to insects. Examples are fungi, bacteria and viruses, which can cause massive disease outbreaks and death among insect populations. There is also some interest in the use of selected strains of nematodes and other predator organisms, which may be effective in controlling insects.
Currently, there are many biotechnology research companies working on a large array of insect and other pest management technologies in the US and other countries. They typically use modern techniques of molecular biology, sometimes called genetic engineering to improve biological control technologies. Diego has no doubts these efforts will result in a steady steam of new options for pest management professionals.
Above all, he stresses, sanitation is central to effective, reliable pest management in any situation as clean surroundings create a healthy environment and good sanitation limits the food, water and harborage available to pests, and even improves the effectiveness of chemical applications. Pesticide residues will work longer on surfaces that have no grease, oil or water spills, and sanitation improves the response to bait.
“A comprehensive pest management programme must focus on pest prevention,” Diego re-emphasises. The external environment and landscaping, entry points, internal construction, the movement of equipment and provisions, location of food and water and the nature and timing of operations within the premises must be considered.
The official cautions that in considering pest management principles in the dairy industry no single right way exists for dealing with every pest infestation.
“Many wrong ways maybe used because measures considered standard or conventional in other situations can cause damage or disruption in the dairy Industry.
“It is as important to know what not to do than what should be done. Before attempting to design a programme for a specific environment, the pest management professional should first become aware of all the special circumstances that have in the first place created the sensitive environment.”
This, he says, includes understanding the risks associated with using traditional or conventional pest control materials and methods. Once these risks are understood, the pest management professional and the customer can plan together how to minimise them.
 “In the dairy Industry, it is important that the customer and pest management professional communicate and agree on all aspects of the pest control programme,” says Diego.
“As a general principal, it is best to develop a written pest management plan in conjunction with the customer.”  The official also stresses that information including the history of infestation should be made available to the pest management company. It would also be best to consider programmes in the dairy industry in a comprehensive or holistic way, taking into account the entire structure. To limit them to specific areas would reduce the ability to deal with some types of pest infestations effectively.
Masa Establishment is a fully Saudi-owned company under the full ownership and direction of Mousaied S Shieshakly. The company’s 11 branches are located in Riyadh and Buraidah (Central Region), Dammam, Al Ahsai-Hofuf and Jubail (Eastern Region), Jeddah, Makkah and Madinah (Western Region), Abha and Jizan (Western and Southern Region) and Tabuk (Northern Region).
Masa Establishment is currently expanding its service organisation by installing satellite branches to cover the areas of Hafr, Al Batin, Hail, Yanbu, Taif and Al Baha.