The Buzz Word

Everything a Food Processor Needs

RK Environmental Services has worked hard over the years to provide superior pest management and food safety services exclusively to the food industry. We have successfully grown our business because we continue to exceed our clients’ expectations and go beyond the norm. Our client’s satisfaction is our number one priority!

In an effort to support our client’s needs, RK Environmental has forged strategic alliances so we can be "the source" for other food plant services. In addition to providing the very best professional pest management services for the food industry and food safety consulting services via our CFS division, we have a network of alliances for almost every need a food processor has. Most importantly, the below referenced resources are top class in their specific industries.

Here are a few of our first class alliances:

Cleaning Solutions: Safe Guard Environmental

"Our mission is to tailor our indoor environmental, industrial and air duct cleaning solutions to meet the unique needs of our clients"

• Silo / Bulk Tank Cleaning.
• Food plant ‘project or deep cleaning’, including overhead areas
• HVAC system, mold, exhaust hood, air duct, grease duct and exhaust fan cleaning
• Exhaust fan repair
• Oven cleaning and other difficult to clean equipment and machinery

Chemical Solutions: Chemetall

"Our goals extend far beyond supplying the highest quality chemicals to sanitize your production equipment – we also enable you to increase operational efficiencies and focus more on your business."

We work to make your processes faster, easier, safer and more efficient by:

• Trimming sanitation hours to increase your available production time
• Pinpointing areas to improve processes and save energy/costs
• Identifying automation opportunities to make better use of staff resources
• Lowering chemical usage to enhance safety

Flooring Solutions: Platinum Floors

• Professional flooring repairs for food processing environments, warehousing, etc.

Quality and Leadership Solution: Change Management Consulting (CMC) Consulting

CMC is your "one stop" resource for organizational, leadership and quality improvement:

• Organizational and Leadership Development consulting that addresses Human Resource issues which may be holding your organization back.
• Management Consulting that is custom designed with client involvement.
• Strategic Planning to help you chart a course for sustainable success.
• Award-winning Customized Training to suit your exact needs.
• Continuous improvement initiatives: ISO Management Systems and Lean Manufacturing and Six Sigma.
• And we are experts in obtaining Public Funding Assistance for our clients!

GFSI Solutions: Comprehensive Food Safety, LLC

"CFS is your quality and food safety business partner."

• In-house registered auditor consultants
• Streamline processes custom fit for your unique business
• Pragmatic food safety and quality management systems integrated into every day operations… single or multiple sites.
• Tactical project scheduling to ensure success
• Continuous maintenance support

RK Environmental Services is dedicated to the food industry at multiple levels. We will continue to operate on the cutting edge of technology, quality and superior client services.

If you want to learn more about our company or have any questions please give us a call 800-996-4402 or visit our website
www.rkenvironmental.com

Sally Petkovich, RK Environmental Route Coordinator
In Her Words

If there is one word I would use to describe RK Environmental Services it is "dynamic". RK Environmental Services has grown and evolved in the 3 years I’ve been here in leaps and bounds and it is not by accident. Hank Hirsch is at the helm using his knowledge and expertise to build a comprehensive product that is in great demand by a wide variety of businesses and facilities. Hank has had the insight to pick and develop his management team to create a unified, versatile, and motivated management team.

I am a lucky person to have the position I have at RK. Being a scheduler I know that no amount of energy in planning would place me in a position that is such a perfect fit for me. I thrive at RK because of many factors but the largest force within the organization that inspires me daily is the energy, vitality, commitment, intelligence, and so much more, of the people that I work for and with.

Scheduling is something I really enjoy. I am able to express myself through my work by introducing new levels of planning, and monitoring current procedures. I have the support of the management team to delve deeper into the current workings of my position to point out potential weak spots, to find solutions for these issues and then to implement changes. I am highly motivated to taking scheduling at RK to a new level in 2012. The changes that I have begun to implement will enable the scheduling team at RK to provide support and direction to the technicians and also to support the management team by supplying timely and in depth reporting on how efficiently and effectively we are accomplishing our scheduled tasks.

I speak to almost all of our technicians on a daily basis. Let me tell you, they go above and beyond regularly. Because the clients’ needs are the first priority at RK there can be many instances where the original schedule for the day needs to be altered; unscheduled audits need attention, potential issues arise, etc. It is my responsibility to make these scheduling changes as seamless as possible. There have been numerous times when the technicians have banned together to make sure things continue to run smoothly. To name a couple scenarios: when technicians need to take time off or when last minute seasonal services need to be carried out. I have watched newer technicians over the years develop into highly skilled professionals due to thorough training via on sight training, field training and online training. That’s one of the most attractive (if not THE attractive) selling points for RK; our clients know that all of our technicians are skilled, and trained in pest management.

"In the 11 years that I’ve been the President of RK Environmental Services, I would be hard pressed to think of another employee who has been more loyal or hard working than Sally! All of us at RKE are fortunate to work with Sally and appreciate all she does for us and our clients, she’s the best!" Hank Hirsch

Save The Date: March 27th & 28th, 2012

It’s time to make your plans to attend Food Safety & Pest Management 2012, hosted by RKE & CFS.  Last year our annual Food Safety and Pest Management Seminar presented some of the industries greatest leaders and most dynamic speakers.  Our turnout was a huge success!

This year will be even better! We are coordinating our speaker line up, event details and like last year, we will be hosting our boutique exhibitor expo.  We all know how quickly things change in our industry. This event is geared perfectly for the food processor, distributor or retail food chain.  If your facility participates in any type of 3rd party food safety audit, this symposium is a ‘must’ for your business.

Hear what others had to say about the event be clicking here.

So, please stay posted by following us on Facebook and our LinkedIn group, " Food Safety and Pest Management Solutions".  Event details and registration information will be revealed soon.

Thanks and see you soon!
Hank Hirsch, BCE

The FPA Affiliation

Did you know of our National capabilities? RK Environmental Services is proud of our affiliation with the Food Protection Alliance. We are associate members for the FPA and cover a large territory for the group. Our group consists of regional sized companies that specialize in pest management and fumigation for the food industry. We’ve banded together to be competitive and provide national capabilities.

The Food Protection Alliance (FPA) is a unique network of regional companies aligned together providing excellence in pest management, food safety, preventative techniques, structural and commodity fumgiation services, continual education training, and so much more.

Our mission is to be on the vanguard of pest management, fumigation, and related food- protection services, by offering to our customers in North America and beyond the most advance technology, professional expertise, and service of unparalleded quality, preserving value for our customers and better safeguarding our food supply.

Through our range of consulting, proactive pest management, thrid party audit, bar coding technology, and years of experience in the pest management food safety industry, we are fully ready to protect your brand name.If you are interested in learning about which FPA member is in your area, feel free to contact Kalah Schmitz, National Executive Director, at kschmitz@fpalliance.com or visit www.fpalliance.com.

Introductions

Wow! We have been busy growing the RK Environmental team! There is a lot going on and we wanted to introduce all of you to our some of our newest team members. Please join us in welcoming Eric Molinaro and Robert Shiron.

Eric Molinaro is our new Service Manager for the South Area. He covers our efforts in South Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Virginia, Maryland and the northern sections of North Carolina. He started back in July so many, if not everyone in his region, has met him already.

Eric has an extensive background and long history in food safety. He comes to us from Frito Lay where he knew Rich Gibson who is, and has been for some time now, our Director of Food Safety. When we approached Eric with an opportunity to come work with RK Environmental Services he was flattered and excited. He was completely aware of our reputation for professionalism and satisfaction. He has always been impressed with our technicians and their relationship with the customer. “They always have their fingers on the pulse” said Eric about our techs.

Robert Shiron is the Service Manager for the Central Region covering New Jersey & New York and some of Pennsylvania. He is in charge of managing and working with the service personnel to expand their knowledge of food safety and pest management. He also, periodically, visits our customers to perform quality assurance inspections. This is to ensure that our service is being performed to company standards and to ensure that we are exceeding our customers’ expectations.

Robert has been working in the industry for over 20 years. He’s been involved with pest control and food safety in one way or another ever since. Helping people with their problems and dealing with pests has always been interesting to him.

Before coming to RK Environmental Services Robert had been a Branch Manager and Service Supervisor for another pest control company, IPM/Sanitation Food Safety Specialist and he also spent some time as a Corrections Officer for New Jersey. Rob currently holds the following certifications: Certified SQF Practitioner, GMP Certified, FDA Certified Food Safety Security Awareness (FD251), Certified HACCP Food Safety, Licensed pesticide applicator in the state of New Jersey (Core, 7A, 7B, 7D), Certified Global Food Safety for Pest Control, and is an Authorized Installer of Bird-B-Gone Bird Control Products.

All of us are excited to have both Eric and Robert join our growing family. Please, welcome them both as they visit your sites.

Adrian Masterson-General Manager
We Are Growing !

It has been a busy year for all of us here at RK Environmental Services. With all the changes to Food Safety in our country our industry is hopping busy. Our clients are expanding and preparing for the new FDA regulations and we are too.

In order to continue to provide the best service to our clients we have promoted Adrian Masterson to General Manager. Adrian’s core responsibilities will be to manage the day-to-day operations of the business to ensure that business and client needs are being met. Also Adrian will work closely with the Office Administration team. Standardization of company systems and procedures will be a top priority to better enhance our level of service across the board.

As many of our readers are aware RK Environmental Services strives to exceed our clients expectations and provide the most advanced pest management and food safety programs known today. In doing so, we seek out the most talented and forward thinking team members. We knew from the day we interviewed Adrian that he was destined to rapidly advance within our organization. He has the talent, knowledge and leadership skills that make him such a great asset to our team and our clients. We are very excited to have him lead this new endeavor.

AIB Implements New Scoring System Changes effective January 1, 2011

Everyday there is news of another salmonella outbreak, or Listeria. You would think in today’s day and age there were would be better food safety systems in place. There have been some attempts. Most recently, the Food Safety Modernization Act (S. 510) has been waiting review. However, due to the October Recess the Senate was not able to vote. The food safety bill has to be delayed until the Senate reconvenes after the midterm election, or longer.

Much of the food Americans consume is safer thanks to independent institutions. They demand stricter processes and ratings. So, while the country waits for the Government to take action, AIB may be able to help improve food safety audits. They have identified auditor inconsistencies in the way reports are written and in their scoring. In order for third party audits to be more reliable and effective the subjectivity needs to be addressed.

Beginning January 1, 2011, a new system will be put in place. The AIB scoring is based on hundreds of observations. Each area the auditor inspects will be assigned point values for the severity and frequency within each of the five categories that comprise the inspection. These categories are:

1. Operational Methods and Personnel Practices:
    The receipt, storage, monitoring, handling, and processing of     raw
materials to manufacture and distribute safe final product.

2. Maintenance for Food Safety:
    The design, upkeep and management of equipment, building     and grounds to provide a sanitary, efficient, and reliable     manufacturing environment.

3. Cleaning Practices:
    The cleaning and sanitizing of equipment, utensils and     buildings to
provide a wholesome and safe processing     environment.

4. Integrated Pest Management:
    The assessment, monitoring, and management of pest activity     to identify, prevent and eliminate conditions that could promote     or sus-tain a pest population.

5. Adequacy of Prerequisite and Food Safety Programs:
    The coordination of management support, cross-functional     teams, documentation, education, training and monitoring     systems to en-sure all departments of the facility work together     effectively to deliver a wholesome and safe final product.

Only those facilities whose score falls within the top 25% of all scores will receive a Recognition of High Achievement Superior award effective January 1, 2011. A Recognition of Accomplishment document will be provided to all other facilities scoring between a passing score of 700 and the applicable Superior score.

With the new standards in place, food manufacturing and distribution facilities can be confident that their third party auditors are protecting their brand and the consumer.

AIB customers and clients should have received a printed copy in October. If you haven’t yet received your copy, you can download it.

Adrian Masterson
Luck O’ the Irish

RK Environmental recently brought on a new team member Adrian Masterson. Adrian comes to us from County Kildare, Ireland. His wife’s employer transferred them to the NY area just a couple of months ago.

Adrian immediately began searching for employment upon his arrival to the US. Little did he know at the same time RK Environmental was searching for a new Service Manager. What luck! Once the team at RK Environmental met Adrian and learned of his background we all knew we had found the perfect person to fill the position.

Adrian was brought right on and is getting to know our clients. He brings with him years of knowledge and hands on experience in environmental and food safety services. Back in Ireland, the country as a whole focused strongly on the environment and improving the way things were done. Thanks to this Adrian’s knowledge of green practices and their applications will come in handy. He understands how changing the way we dispose of waste will positively impact a facilities pest management and the environment.

Adrian jumped right in. He thanks Dave Lemke, RK Environmental’s Director of Operations, for his guidance and friendship. Adrian said Dave has helped him make a smooth transition and given him the guidance and friendship he needed in this new adventure. He has only been a part of our team for a few weeks now. Even so, Adrian says he and his wife feel welcomed and at home here in the United States thanks to RK Environmental Services. They said they couldn’t have asked for a better company, or family in this case, to be a part of.

So keep an eye out for Adrian. Help him feel at home and enjoy a good chat with him. He knows a great deal about food safety and we are certain he will be successful.

Welcome to the family Adrian.

class="style6">Pest Trends

There are trends we look forward to hearing about. Trends like fashion, financial and technology, for example. One trend making all the news is pest trends! Yes, pests. And this is one not many want to know about personally.

Two pest trends impacting the country right now are bed bugs and stink bugs. Last year, neither made any headlines. But now, major city’s, small towns, schools, shopping centers, and offices all have had run ins with these nasty little critters. Guess what? The food industry isn’t immune to them. No one is.

Lets take a look at the stink bug first. This little guy has grown exponentially over the last year. No one can explain why. Not much is known about stink bugs to begin with. They are originally from Asia and have only been in the US since 1998. Researchers say the bugs reproduced at a faster rate this year, but they are unsure why. Populations of the brown marmorated stink bug – different from the green stink bugs that are kept in check by natural predators here – have been found in 15 states, and specimens in 14 other states, according to the United States Department of Agriculture.

Cotton, corn, tomato and apple farmers know these guys well. They burrow in the crop and destroy the product, eating away at profits. Homes and other structures, including restaurants and food distribution facilities must remain vigilant and notify their pest management company of any evidence of stink bugs. As inspections are conducted, the consultant will notify the site manager if action needs to be taken.

The bug making the most noise is the bed bug. Not just found in beds anymore. These guys are making headlines daily. Schools are having to bag children’s belongings, newly purchased clothing is being thrown in hot dryers before being placed in drawers, tourism in major cities is down and all due to the fear of bringing home bed bugs. It is no laughing matter. If bed bugs can find there way into Ambercrombie and Fitch they can find their way to your favorite restaurant or the facility that supplies it.

Did you know that bed bugs love poultry? The poultry industry has become a sort of mass-transit system for the insect. There are millions of the bugs living on breeder birds, which are sent across the country. Poultry workers could be moving bedbugs from one place to another.

Really, all it takes is for one employee to unknowingly bring in bed bugs and your facility is at risk. They like quiet dark places to hide. Pay close attention to benches, lockers, coat closets, storage areas and things like that. They will hang out there until they can catch a ride to their next meal.

The best thing facility managers can do is to be sure to have a plan in place should there be any evidence of bed bugs or stink bugs. Schedule a time to get together with your pest control provider and develop a plan. Together you can identify systems and procedures to identify and rectify any situations before they become infestations.

This Spring RK Environmental Services will be hosting a Pest Management and Food Safety Seminar. We will be sharing more details here in our next newsletter as well as on our Linkedin Group: Food Safety and Pest Management and our Facebook Page: RK Environmental Services.

Is One Fly Too Many?
(Article from QA – Quality Assurance and Food Safety magazine, May/June 2010. Used with permission by QA Media,
www.qualityassurancemag.com)

That pesky insect buzzing around your food is known by the (mentionable) names of house fly, common fly, filth fly or, simply, the fly. But by any name, this familiar flying Musca domestica is a plant sanitarian’s nightmare.

With fermenting vegetables and garbage refuse among its favorite feeding and breeding sites, there is little doubt that this common fly will pass along pathogens and disease organisms when it lands on a food, food container or food-contact surface. In addition to carrying the bacteria on its “feet,” a fly cannot digest solids, so it excretes stomach acids and regurgitates wherever it comes to rest.
The house fly has been shown to carry the disease organisms causing typoid fever, cholera, summer diarrhea, dysentery, tuberculosis, anthrax and ophthalmia as well as parasitic worms. Even more relevant to food processors, this filth fly has been implicated as a vector of the food-poisoning bacteria E. coli and Salmonella.

Under most conditions of a typical urban environment, no one should have to suffer flies indoors. But with its ever-present attractants for flies, a food plant often needs to go a step above the norm to keep these filth flies at bay. To do so, a six-step approach is recommended:

1. Sanitation. Pure and simply, sanitation is the key in eliminating fly infestations, because it removes the odors that attract the flies and the food supply that enables them to live and breed. Sanitation should be maintained year round in any plant, but must be especially thorough during warm weather when fly activity is at its peak.

2. Cultural measures. Practices should be altered or designed to minimize potential breeding sites around buildings. When ample food and egg-laying sites are available, most adult flies will remain near their breeding habitat. Thus, sanitation again comes into play, with external cleaning and sanitation critical to limiting fly numbers near the plant by reducing fly attractants. In addition, whenever possible and permissible, a plant should ask its pest management service provider to check adjacent properties for fly breeding sources. While flies can travel long distances, most flies found in and around a building originate from breeding sources on or near the property.

3. Exclusion. Despite your best sanitation efforts, flies are attracted to plants because of odors and preferred temperatures that radiate from the building. Thus, doors should be equipped with self-closing devices; doors and windows be well-maintained at all times; cracks sealed; and care taken to keep employees from propping doors open during breaks.

4. Mechanical Control. Devices to trap or exclude flies include those such as:

5. Legal Issues. In addition to federal regulations and GMPs, many states, counties, cities and towns have and enforce their own specific health codes containing sections on prohibition of vermin. It can be advantageous to be proactive in forming a working relationship with local enforcement officials and participating in health officer associations.

6. Insecticide treatment. Treatment with insecticides should be performed only after the consideration and implementation of the previous five initiatives. In most cases, application will be limited to specific sites where adult flies land to rest, and, in food plants, application is further limited by label restrictions for food areas and/or food-contact surfaces.
Excerpted from “Handbook of Pest Control” by Arnold Mallis (GIE Media).

Jessica Albrecht
RK Environmental Account Executive

In case you don’t already know her, we would like to introduce you to Jessica Albrecht, Account Executive. Jessica helps develop new safety and pest management programs for our clients.

A lot goes into the development of Jessica’s programs. She visits with the account and gets to know them and how they operate. Once she has a full understanding of their operations and food safety requirements she customizes a program that exceeds their needs.

Helping companies understand what can make them better is what motivates Jessica. Before coming to work with RK Environmental, she was working for a competitor. It was tough for her to achieve much fulfillment because each time she met with a prospective client who was already using RK Environmental Services they told her they were quite satisfied and not interested in changing companies. These companies were already receiving perfect audit scores and expressed that RK Environmental Services provided more than just pest control. She tried and tried but realized RK Environmental just could not be beat.

So, while serving on the board of the Metropolitan Association for Food Protection, Jessica was given an opportunity to meet Hank Hirsch, Owner of RK Environmental Services. Another board member had invited Hank to speak and Jessica was asked to help him set up his presentation. At which point she told Hank how impressed she was with his company’s reputation and told him about her challenges selling against him.

Hank had not had anyone working on new business development before. Just himself. So, he contacted Jessica soon after they met and brought her on board. She is one of a small group of women in the industry and very good at what she does. Since coming on board 2 years ago new business has grown 30% each year. Jessica has a way of getting peoples attention by presenting them with opportunities for improvement and understanding their professional career needs.

RK Environmental is fortunate to have Jessica on our team. She compliments our culture, lives our services and is focused on our clients. Thanks, Jessica!

RK Environmental Services is breaking all the rules and setting a new standard!

You have probably heard before how difficult it is for a woman to make it in a male dominated company or professional field before. Make no mistake, the pest management industry has a history of being male dominated.

RK Environmental is different and proud of it! We have four amazing ladies on our team. We just highlighted one of them in this newsletter, Jessica Albrecht, Account Executive. The others are our technicians: Ashley Denninson, Alana Mantovani and Angela Rael.

In my personal opinion, it would not be the same at RK Environmental without these ladies on our team. They bring a level of quality, knowledge and respect to our company and our industry. We are proud of each and every one of them. We want to be sure they know how much RK Environmental appreciates them.

Ladies, thank you for everything you do for the team and our clients! Here’s to you! Cheers!

Food Security Today

Back in the 80’s our nation was rocked when we learned Tylenol had been tampered with. Since then protections and standards have been put in place to protect the welfare of consumers. Today, the safety of our nation is of concern and food security plays a large role.

Since 9/11 our society is even more alert and aware of its surroundings. Take for example the t-shirt vendor in NYC, recently. Had he not noticed something unusual and felt compelled to report it, we can only imagine what would have happened. We need to work together and be aware. Practice prevention and have plans in place, just as the NYPD did in April.

Although, food contamination threats have occurred throughout history, it is not until recently that Americans and the world over have been reminded of the potential dangers our food supply faces. All aspects of the food manufacturing industry, among others, were closely scrutinized following 9/11. In 2002 The World Health Assembly adopted resolution WHA 55.16 which expressed concern that biological and chemical agents and radio nuclear materials could be easily disseminated via the food supply in order to cause serious harm and/or death to civilians. The information and warnings that came from the resolution WHA 55.16 immediately created a call to action.

Governments and private companies realized they could not rule out the possibility of the contamination of food for terrorist activities. Taking sensible precautions, coupled with establishing and strengthening surveillance and response capacity, constitute the most efficient and effective way of countering food terrorism as well as other food safety emergencies. The first line of defense in assuring the safe production of food is prevention. The keys to preventing food terrorism are establishing and enhancing food safety management programs and implementing reasonable security measures. Then systems and procedures to address security breaches need to be established and practiced.

Frito Lay is a great example of a company that has taken a hold of the recommendations and created a well planned and executed food defense infrastructure. In a recent article in Security Director News, Peter Hayes, senior group manager, manufacturing operations support and food security, shared how they went about developing such a program. According to this article, it took several years to upgrade their security at all their manufacturing and storage facilities. They not only provided them with the tools necessary to prevent threats and contamination they also developed drills to see how the facility and its team would react and perform in a real crisis. Due to Frito Lays security program, their team feels more confident and secure.

For the benefit of your company, product and employees, take some time to re-evaluate your food security and defense systems. Bring in someone from outside the company to give an unbiased review. See what more can be done. You never know, but you need to be prepared.

Ashley Denninson
Pest Control Technician

What a breath of fresh air and enthusiasm RK Environmental has in Ashley Denninson. Ashley is part of growing trend in the pest control industry: female pest control technicians. At least, it is a growing trend at RK Environmental Services where we employ 3 female techs, currently.

Ashley is extremely knowledgeable, outgoing and full of energy. She received her Masters Degree in Entomology from East Stroudsburg University. Upon graduation, the University was so impressed with Ashley’s work and performance she was invited to return as a teacher’s assistant in the Entomology department.

It was no surprise Ashley would continue to make a living in the Pest Control Industry. As a child she was “one of the boys”. She especially loved to play with bugs. Her mother saw this interest and gave her a microscope to look at them more closely. She studied them day and night. Soon, she came to find that her favorite bug was the Assassin Bug. I guess that shouldn’t come as a surprise. It is very much like Ashley. It’s not afraid and it’s quick and effective.

Today, we are thrilled to have Ashley on the RK Environmental team. She brings with her a great attitude and our clients couldn’t be more pleased to work with her. They also don’t underestimate her effectiveness. She can remember visiting with one client when a mouse ran right past her. There was no hesitation. She bolted after it with a glue trap and had it in her hands in no time.

Ashley is a rising star in our organization. We are so pleased she joined our team and so are our clients.

RK Environmental and Make A Wish Foundation:

This past November, Hank Hirsch participated in the Ironman Cozumel. He swam 2.4 miles, biked 112 miles and ran 26.2 miles!!! His motivation to make it through this grueling event: knowing he was making a child’s dreams come true.

Hank finished the event in under 15 hours and raised over $4,000.00 in donations for Make A Wish Foundation. Then RK Environmental matched dollar for dollar for a grand total of over $8,000.00! Way to go! Just what do you think Hank should do to top that one and again support Make A Wish Foundation? Follow our groups on Facebook and Linkedin; let us know what you think!