Rats, Cockroaches out of Thy Kitchen.
Keeping pests out of your kitchen.
I was visiting a friend recently for the weekend and just towards the evening of one of the days, well, at about 8pm, I entered the fairly dark kitchen to find out that I have to compete with a few granny cockroaches and hundreds of little ones to the extent that one mighty one almost fell into the pot of beans I wanted to open. It wasn't a funny sight, I came out of the kitchen wondering what could be wrong, It's a big house belonging to a middle class couple. I started to assess the kitchen hygiene critically and it wasn't long I discovered what might have caused the scene I just watched.
A kitchen is a dedicated place for food and food items. We may not be able to do without cooking, or eating in a day, all table activities are connected to the kitchen, it's like a food refinery. These food goes directly into us and their content is absorbed into our system including the ones that came from the pests.
A pest is any creature that operates at your unguarded hours. They won't normally be around us and home if they aren't invited, we often invite them, although not deliberately. Examples of common kitchen pests are cockroaches, fruit flies and rats. They are in your kitchen to fill up their tiny stomachs, yet like Oliver twist, they won't stop looking for more. In the process, it's a fact that you are the ones feeding them, of course, they will respond by multiplying and having large family trees as the ones in my story above. They are there in your kitchen for food.
Having pests around our food and especially in the kitchen is not suitable for our health. These pests e.g cockroaches are normally found in toilets and so can serve as biological agents of disease transmission from feces to your food. Rats on the other hand go into gutters, dirty pipes, burrows and then come to enter your kitchen in your food! It's worse to know that as these pests salvage on your food, they drop their wastes in the food likewise in your pots, plates, cups and spoon. Little wonder why we had the lassa fever outbreaks. Other diseases that can result from pests in the kitchen are gastrointestinal diseases like food poisoning, gastroenteritis: evidenced by vomiting, stooling and abdominal pain.
Kitchen health is very crucial to our health and we must work deliberately to achieve it. There are things that can be done to take pests out of the kitchen or at least prevent them from gaining access to your food, food items and utensils.
Clean the kitchen after cooking: Immediately, after cooking meals, it's best to clean up. Clean away food items from all surfaces; the cooker surface and kitchen table. Sweep the floor and remove all food particles that must have dropped in the process. Always keep your sink clean and empty after every use and clean up all spills as soon as they happen.
Eat at the table. You will be able to get rid of food droppings as you clean the table after eating.
Wash plates after eating: It is preferable to wash immediately after eating to get rid of the left-overs. Leaving it for even a while could mean an invitation to the pests to invade your kitchen. At best, do not leave any unwashed utensils overnight.
Choose a can trash that has a lid. This to some extent can keep pests away.
Take out the trash as soon as possible. The bins of course contain food items, paper and plastic bags in which the pests may be interested in. The least that can be done is to not leave trash overnight in the home, take it to the bigger bin in the compound in a sealed tight plastic bag. The reason for this is not far fetched, most pests are nocturnal that's they operate more at night hence are able to invade trash and dirty plates over the night.
Arrange your kitchen neatly and let everything have their spaces. Properly putting things where they are meant to be makes the kitchen clean.
Store all food items in an airtight container to prevent invasion. Food items in a paper or a plastic bag e.g bread, should be kept in the fridge. Cover food securely.
Make use of your fridge and freezer more. It is very important to note that the fridge and freezer could be an escape from pests and not only for storing perishable items.Pack up left-over food from the pot and keep safely in the fridge or freezer.
Clean your fridge at least once a week.
Keep washed plates and spoons in air-tight drawers after drying or at least in a secured container. Cover all pots securely, it is advisable to at least rinse utensils before using.
Get rid of holes and cracks in the wall. Rats can pass through the tiniest of holes and cockroaches can stay in the spaces around the pipes that supply water to the kitchen. Look out for these hide outs and get rid of them.
Regular de-ratting and use of pesticides may be needed. Get a reliable company to fumigate or do a pest checked in your kitchen and home.
In conclusion, we may not be able to completely take out pests from the kitchen as long as we cook there but we can effectively prevent them from gaining access to our food and utensils. By this, we will be protecting the entire household from possible pests related diseases. It will just take some deliberate actions.
Dr. Bolanle Aderehinwo.
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