Where you have food you will inevitably also have pests – or so I have been told.
That, at least, has lately been the case for several commissaries overseas which have been struggling with vermin problems. According to an email we received, the Patch commissary, located in Stuttgart, Germany, was recently closed for several days while officials did their best to take care of a mice problem, and at the commissary in Naples one reader saw signs (in Italian) warning of rat poison.
Gross.
The whole thing made me wonder about just what the commissary does to make sure mice/rats/yucky bugs don’t take up residence in all of their stores.
The news is both good and bad. First, the bad:
This isn’t a problem isolated to Naples and Stuttgart. I know, I know – of course it isn’t. I’d even be fibbing if I said I didn’t have my own, personal mice problem in this rental thanks to some poorly stored bird feed and a few tempting bags of Teddy Grahams. But that doesn’t mean I like to admit that there is a problem – especially where I shop. Officials readily admitted that the commissary rodent problem is a "constant threat."
The good news: commissaries don’t close very often for rodent problems, according to Col. Michael A. Buley, director of DeCA's public health and safety directorate. He told us in a statement that periodic inspections are done to look for signs of possible infestation or spots that are likely to result in one. Health and safety officials work together on base, he said, to make sure the pests are done away with quickly and safely.
Have you ever experienced a rodent (or other bug) problem at your commissary?
