A Traditional Practice to Manage the Storage Pests in Processed Food Products
A TRADITIONAL PRACTICE TO MANAGE THE STORAGE PESTS IN PROCESSED FOOD PRODUCTS
A. SIVARAMAN AND Y.HARIPRASAD
Department of Entomology, Faculty of Agriculture, Annamalai University, Annamalai Nagar-608 002
Abstract
Cereals are the main staple food for the Indian people and are stored by the producers and consumers. At the time of harvest, the grains are dried until their moisture content is less than nine per cent which is ideal for storage. But sometimes, uncertain weather would not allow the proper drying up of grain. Almost all the insect pests of stored grains have a remarkably high rate of multiplication and within one season, they may destroy 7-10 per cent of the grains and contaminate the rest with undesirable odours and flavours. Wheat (Triticum spp.) is a major cereal food for the Indian people and is stored in every home as flour where it was infested by insect pests like Tribolium sp. (Tenebrionidae: Coleoptera), Sitophilus oryzae (Linnaeus) (Curculionidae:Coleoptera) & Plodia interpunctella (Hubner) (Pyralidae :Lepidoptera). A traditional method was successfully followed to control the pest infestation on stored wheat flour. After drying and sieving the wheat flour, around 10 g of common salt and 5 g of asafoetida powder were mixed with every kg of wheat flour. The mixture was then stored in an air tight container around a year without any infestation. The presence of salt would hav inhibited the pest multiplication and the asafoetida powder would have kept the pleasant odour.
Key words: Processed food products, Storage pest, Traditional pest control practice, Salt asafoetida
A. SIVARAMAN AND Y.HARIPRASAD
Department of Entomology, Faculty of Agriculture, Annamalai University, Annamalai Nagar-608 002
Abstract
Cereals are the main staple food for the Indian people and are stored by the producers and consumers. At the time of harvest, the grains are dried until their moisture content is less than nine per cent which is ideal for storage. But sometimes, uncertain weather would not allow the proper drying up of grain. Almost all the insect pests of stored grains have a remarkably high rate of multiplication and within one season, they may destroy 7-10 per cent of the grains and contaminate the rest with undesirable odours and flavours. Wheat (Triticum spp.) is a major cereal food for the Indian people and is stored in every home as flour where it was infested by insect pests like Tribolium sp. (Tenebrionidae: Coleoptera), Sitophilus oryzae (Linnaeus) (Curculionidae:Coleoptera) & Plodia interpunctella (Hubner) (Pyralidae :Lepidoptera). A traditional method was successfully followed to control the pest infestation on stored wheat flour. After drying and sieving the wheat flour, around 10 g of common salt and 5 g of asafoetida powder were mixed with every kg of wheat flour. The mixture was then stored in an air tight container around a year without any infestation. The presence of salt would hav inhibited the pest multiplication and the asafoetida powder would have kept the pleasant odour.
Key words: Processed food products, Storage pest, Traditional pest control practice, Salt asafoetida