Knouse Foods

The Core of a Successful Pest Management Program

Knouse Foods, Inc. is one of the world’s largest apple processors. Like other food manufacturers, fruit processors are highly pest sensitive for food safety reasons. Unfortunately, Knouse’s naturally sugary products make their facilities very attractive to a wide variety of pests – not acceptable when the company’s products are distributed to retail, foodservice and industrial end-users and distributors throughout the United States. That’s why multiple Knouse locations turn to Orkin. Orkin’s Integrated Pest Management (IPM) program helps consistently keep pests in their place.

We spoke with Alex Anderson, Corporate Sanitarian, and Bill Jensen, Plant Manager for Knouse Foods in Paw-Paw, Michigan, about the importance of partnership when it comes to managing pests. Following is an edited transcription of that interview.

Why is effective pest management so important to Knouse Foods?

Anderson: “We used to do our pest control in-house, but we ultimately found it wasn’t effective. We turned to the pest management expert, Orkin, and they are now servicing multiple locations.”

Jensen: “We’re a food facility, and because of that we don’t want a lot of spraying around our food areas. Orkin provides IPM, which helps us prevent pests before they even enter the facility, and reduces unnecessary chemical usage.”

Why did you choose Orkin as your pest management provider?

Anderson: “We needed to standardize our pest control programs among all our facilities and provide electronic documentation so that we can track pest trends and address them more quickly. Orkin’s Gold Medal Protection provides the best of both.”

How would you describe your partnership with Orkin?

Jensen: “Orkin is here every week and monitors inside as well as outside the plant. They do an excellent job. Orkin is the pest management expert. We’re the apple experts.