K9 Rodent Detection for Food Processing Facilities
Built for facilities audited against SQF, BRCGS, FSSC 22000 and AIB — where a single major non-conformance in the pest section can cost a certification grade and the contracts behind it.
What do food safety auditors require for rodent control?
GFSI-benchmarked schemes — SQF, BRCGS, FSSC 22000 and IFS — plus AIB’s Consolidated Standards all expect the same core: a site-specific pest risk assessment, a numbered monitoring device map that reconciles exactly to physical device placement, documented service and activity logs, trending, and corrective action records. Auditors walk the floor and compare the map to reality. Where they diverge, they write findings. Canine detection strengthens that program by locating active harborage the device network was never designed to find.
What the standards actually ask of you
Every scheme differs in structure and scoring. AIB runs a point-scored physical inspection that punishes visible pest evidence hard on the day. BRCGS is the most prescriptive on documentation depth and trending into the hazard analysis. SQF and BRCGS auditors walk the floor comparing device locations against your map.
Strip away the clause numbers and they converge on one thing: can you prove you have a controlled, monitored, and corrected system?
That is also where the exposure sits. Interior rodenticide use is generally prohibited in areas where product is exposed — interior control relies on mechanical devices in non-product areas, with rodenticides restricted to tamper-resistant exterior stations. So your interior program is, by design, a detection-and-capture network. It is very good at telling you something got in. It is structurally incapable of telling you where it is living.
Where we work inside a plant
Production and packaging lines, raw material and finished-goods storage, receiving and shipping docks, dry goods, ingredient handling, utility corridors and chases, wall and equipment voids, motor control and electrical rooms, catwalks and overhead, waste and compactor areas, and the full exterior perimeter including grade, landscaping, and the property line. We work to your GMP, hygiene, allergen, and visitor protocols, and schedule around production — sanitation windows, weekend downtime, or shutdowns.
The finding that costs you the grade is almost never the trap count
Facilities rarely fail the pest section because a log was missing. They fail because an auditor found physical evidence in a location the program did not know about — droppings behind a line, gnaw damage on packaging in storage, a void with active nesting.
That evidence existed before the audit. Nobody had looked in the right place, because nothing in a device-map program points you there. A canine sweep before your audit date is a systematic search for exactly the evidence an auditor is trained to find — with enough lead time to correct it and document the correction.
How a plant engagement works
- Pre-audit review. We review your device map, the last twelve months of trend data, any open corrective actions, and your audit scheme before we arrive.
- Canine sweep. Interior and exterior, worked systematically and scheduled around production or during sanitation windows so product exposure stays out of scope.
- Confirmation and mapping. Every alert is handler-confirmed and tied to your existing device map, with unconfirmed alerts logged separately.
- Findings report. Numbered findings tied to facility locations, photographic evidence, active-versus-inactive classification, and prioritized corrective actions — written to be handed to an auditor without reformatting.
- Verification sweep. After remediation we re-run the sweep and document closure. A service log shows you did something; a verification sweep shows it worked.
Frequently asked questions
Will a detection dog pass our GMP and food safety requirements?
Our teams work to site GMP protocols and we coordinate access and hygiene requirements in advance. The sweep itself is non-chemical — nothing is applied during detection. Many plants schedule us during sanitation windows specifically to keep production and product exposure out of scope.
Does canine detection satisfy an audit requirement on its own?
No, and be careful of anyone who says otherwise. Detection does not replace your device network, logs, trending, or corrective action process — the standards require all of that. It supplements the program by locating harborage the device network cannot, and by producing evidence you can attach to corrective actions.
We have an audit in six weeks. Is that enough time?
Usually, and it is the right window — enough lead time to find issues, correct them, and document the correction before the auditor arrives. Facilities with a confirmed audit date are prioritized in our scheduling.
We just took a major non-conformance on pest. What now?
Call us with the finding language. A corrective action closes credibly when you can show root cause, action taken, and verification. Detection is a strong instrument for the first and third of those, which are the two most facilities struggle to evidence.
Do you replace our current pest management provider, or work with them?
Either works. Most of our food-plant work is detection and documentation delivered to the QA team and their existing provider, but where you want us to close the loop we deliver treatment too — self-performed where we are licensed and coordinated with vetted local partners on multi-state work.
Related: Audit-ready documentation and verification · Norway rat burrow detection · back to nationwide K9 rodent detection
Audit coming, or an open finding to close?
Tell us your standard and your date, and we will tell you honestly whether we can meet it.