Darkling beetle control could prevent Salmonella in poultry

Darkling beetles are a vector for foodborne pathogens, including Salmonella and E. coli, and poultry diseases like Marek’s disease, infectious bronchitis and blackhead disease.

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Mealworm, Tenebrio molitor, in front of white background
Mealworm, Tenebrio molitor, in front of white background
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Darkling beetles are a vector for foodborne pathogens, including Salmonella and E. coli, and poultry diseases like Marek’s disease, infectious bronchitis and blackhead disease.

In addition, during bad infestations, darkling beetles have been known to destroy the insulation of poultry houses and bite birds, which can cause scars on the breast tissue of birds, affecting meat quality and resulting in condemnations at the processing plant.

“The main part is food safety just because they can harbor pathogens. Birds eat darkling beetles – they’ll eat anything and that serves as a reservoir for all of those pathogens,” explained Dr. Alissa Welsher, senior monogastric technical consultant, Elanco.

The conversation about darkling beetle control in poultry houses is particularly important right now given renewed efforts to focus on preharvest Salmonella control by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS).

“I think sometimes people forget about insects as a vector for pathogens,” she added. “If there’s some sort of program in place, I think that’s a really important way to reduce that load coming into the plant.”

They are endemic to poultry houses and are particularly attracted to wet litter, making prevention and control challenging.

Darkling beetle control

Litter management is a crucial step to darkling beetle control. Cleaning out the litter or caking out the litter as often as possible directly removes as many eggs, larvae, pupae and adults as possible. 

Another approach is insecticides. These can be sprayed on the perimeter of the house, to control darkling beetles found in the soil and tall grass on the side of poultry houses, or on wall joists, below feed lines and other areas that darkling beetles congregate inside of the house.

Only a few insecticides are designed for use when birds are present in a house, so Welsher cautions all producers to closely look at product labels before applying. It’s also important to regularly rotate insecticide classes every two to three months so that the darkling beetles can’t develop a resistance.

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