The UK operates on a ‘just in time’ food system, maintaining 5 to 10 days’ worth of groceries in the country (often less in the case of fresh produce). Once the UK is outside the EU, its food industry will need to factor in time for longer inspections of food imports at its borders and build the necessary infrastructure to conduct these. So ensuring there are no 'unwanted visitors (insects or mites)' in the imports will be a vital check so incidents like finding a maggot in your broccoli or a caterpillar in your cauliflower do not occur (as reported by HorizonScan, in 2018).

Securing the trust of your own brand in a time when consumers are taking control of their own experiences and making intentional, active decisions on where their money will go based on trust is paramount in today’s connected world, as it really can only takes five seconds to damage the reputation of a well trusted brand.

Did you know that mites can often be found in grains, but have also been known to make their way into frozen vegetables too? If you thought aphids were only a threat to your tulips and roses, think again. The number of whole aphids that deems permissible varies from vegetable to vegetable.

Our initial assessment typically includes a visual examination of your insect by our plant entomologists.

The range of services that the Entomology team can provide for insect identification includes:

• Identification of individual samples of invertebrate pests (insects and mites) found in imported plant material
• Examination of commodities to determine level of contamination, e.g., number of insect larvae found in per box of dried fruit or in each individual fruit
• Provide advice on whether spiders or other invertebrates found with imported produce pose a risk to human health, e.g. is the spider a black widow or something harmless?
• Provide a scientific opinion on the probability as to what point in the supply change the commodity was contaminated (based on the evidence presented, and the biology and known distribution of the pest)
• Provide a scientific consultancy service
• Provide training on pest detection and identification

For a single morphological (insect or mite) identification starts from £125 + VAT and a diagnosis (provisional or final) is provided within three working days.

Bespoke tests are available on request, please contact us on +44 (0)300 100 0322 or via the Crop health team: crophealth@fera.co.uk