ContraMoth® is a real-time sensor that detects insects at all stages of their development – larvae, larvae in cocoons, and adults in post-harvest stored foods. It is a product based on a highly-sensitive and innovative nanotechnology that senses the pheromones of the adult insect and the semiochemicals of the larvae. These are detected at part per billion sensing levels, something that has never been done before. SDC has developed and is currently commercializing this proprietary technology for managing Indianmeal moth insect infestations in stored food products, but this is a platform technology and can be used to detect other insects including those that cause disease, such as the Khapra beetle, and pests such as bed bugs and termites. The device could also simultaneously sense the coincidental presence of Navel Orangeworm larvae and aflatoxin, the primary natural carcinogenic product of toxigenic molds in California tree nuts and other products. By sensing insects and larva presence earlier and more reliably, the overuse of poisonous pesticides will be prevented.
Specific value adding components:
- Pioneering technology offers the first ever method of rapidly detecting Indianmeal moth adults and larvae.
- Immediate feedback information about the size and type of infestation provides the ability to track the infestation to its source
- Early alerts to a stored product problem allow action to be taken to prevent losses from further deterioration of materials.
- Ability to detect Indianmeal moth larvae can be used to identify infestations early in the process.
- Affords significant savings in time and costs over current testing procedures.
- Eliminates the variability and uncertainty of pest presence/absence/abundance/location and prevents missing an infestation due to a false negative.
- The device is easy to use and flexible in its ability to measure other insects and mold that cause economic loss.
- Measures pheromones and semiochemicals and relates them to insect and larvae counts, which can prevent over-fumigation.
- Detects and accurately measures in real-time pheromones, and semiochemicals (not insect bodies).
- Finds insects where visual inspection is not possible, such as in cracks and crevices where they often hide, live and multiply.
- Finds destructive larvae on finished food products, the ingredients for food, and on the equipment where food is prepared, processed, packaged or stored.
- Much quicker detection is possible
SDC Detection Capabilities:
- Navelorange worm
- Indianmeal moth
- Red flour beetle
- Warehouse beetle
- Cigarette beetle
- Larger grain borer
- Lesser grain borer beetle
- Formosan subterranean termite
The ContraMoth® sensor is able to meet the huge unmet need in the marketplace because it give real-time feedback to the user, is portable, and can be used in a customer location. It can also detect all life stages of the Indianmeal Moth, which is important because the larvae cause the most destruction and food loss. SDC’s sensor prevents economic loss in the global food supply. This approach also gives significant savings in time and costs over other currently available testing procedures, which include random sampling requiring a laboratory, visual inspection using flashlights and use of pheromone traps. SDC’s portable solution is designed to pinpoint semiochemicals, larval gases, and adult pheromones in stored-product facilities. It will be an integral part of an integrated pest management program. No matter what the sensor detects, it will save money and prevent food loss: positive detection allows action to be taken to prevent infestation, and negative detection allows confident processing without unnecessary fumigation.