Foreign insect, bug and creature identification and disposal

Hi All,

I have been asked to come up with a standard operating procedure for staff to follow when dealing with foreign insects, bugs, spiders and lizards / amphibians.

Some of our leaf produce is imported from Sapin, Italy and France and our fresh fruit is impotred from various growers around the world, both northern and southern hemosphere, we inevitably find bugs, beetles, moths, frogs, spiders etc.. from time to time and if we find them as a rule they're put in a bag and stepped on!
I am trying to find the UK rules on release / destruction of these creatures and wether or not some need to be reported to or handed to the relevant authorities (ie Defra).

I know there must be some sort of regulations / legislation that covers this but am unable to find it.


Can anyone help me out or point me in the right direction please?

Did you get anywhere with this question Martin?

Regards,
Simon

Hi Simon,

No luck yet, i've been dredging through the defra library but can not find anything that even remotely helps, I am beginning to think that i'm the first to think about setting something like this up!

Although on a plus side i am learning about everything else Defra has published since the dawn of time lol

Find a Pest Control company to remove the insects for you, find a professional company using proper way of removing pest.

Are these the kind of things you need? We had something similar during some such Colorado Beetle scare (we're very protective of our potatoes ever since...well,).

http://www.fera.defr...tineIDcards.cfm

As for an SOP, I would advise all insects to be bagged and identified BEFORE you stomp on them (it may be worth doing a basic entomology course - your pest contractor should be able to help here). Unkonwn could be frozen until inspected by trained personnel. Obviously, notifiable pests must be reported to DEFRA, but not too sure what limits you could place on a load before possible quarantine. I suppose it could be worked out with a risk analysis from the country of origin. As for disposal, hang them from sticks above the factory gates as a grim warning to other foreign insects not to mess with you.