THE Game (AKA: GOOOAAAALLL!)

The FIFA World Cup is here, and the numbers being tossed around are staggering. A recent piece by food safety expert Francine Shaw highlighted a logistics nightmare: one host city expects up to 10 million visitors but only has 28 health inspectors on staff. Yep, that’s my city of Atlanta.

Let that sink in.

Ten million international fans. Thousands of temporary food trucks, pop-up tents, and fan zones. The Atlanta airport has new food stalls in many terminals. All being monitored by a team of inspectors that could fit on a single school bus. I won't even get into the thought of all the bed bugs traveling around with fans.

My immediate thought isn't just about foodborne illness—it’s about the massive wave of pest pressure that comes with it. And of course pests can spread food borne pathogens. Here is what happens when the world comes to town, and how pests view the ultimate soccer tournament.

To feed millions of fans walking to the stadiums, cities are permitting hundreds of temporary food vendors. These pop-up tents and food trucks are operating in 100-degree summer heat, often right on asphalt or next to grassy parks.

Temporary setups lack the structural integrity of a brick-and-mortar restaurant. They rely on portable trash cans, loose fly fans, and open-air prep. This is a glowing neon sign for filth flies, yellowjackets, and foraging ants. Commercial facilities, restaurants, and even homes located anywhere near a "Fan Zone," mean the pest pressure generated by these temporary vendors will spill directly over onto your property.

Ten million people generate an unfathomable amount of waste. Sanitation is one of the basic tenets of pest control and even under normal conditions, sanitation is hard. Even with continuous sanitation crews, dumpsters will be pushed past capacity, and trash pickup schedules will face major traffic gridlock.

Pests don't wait for the garbage truck to arrive. If a dumpster sits overflowing for even a few extra hours in the summer heat, it becomes a primary breeding ground for flies and a buffet for rodents. A localized spike in the rodent population can happen in a matter of days. If you feed them, they will come.

To keep up with the demand for food, beer, and souvenirs, local distributors will be moving inventory faster than ever. Warehouses will be packed to the rafters, and cross-docking will be frantic. When speed trumps scrutiny, incoming inspections hit a bottleneck. That is exactly how German cockroaches, stored product pests, and rodents get delivered into a facility undetected on a stray pallet.

So what can you do about this match up and come out with the best score? Whether you are part of a commercial account or in pest control, there are many things that can be done to increase the odds of winning against pests.

1. Double-down on inspecting. Based on past inspections, there should be some obvious areas that are at risk.

2. Sanitation, sanitation, sanitation. Work with waste management providers to increase pickup frequency. Take out trash more often and don’t let it build up inside. Keep lids of trash bins sealed tightly or at least closed.

3. Check every single door. If light can get through, pests can get through.

4. Put out more control. That may be extra monitors, traps, even treatments.

5. Remind everyone of the risk. Reinforce what to look for when it comes to pests and who to tell if they do see something.

   
   

The World Cup is an incredible event, but it’s a high-stakes game for food safety and pest management. When the inspectors are outnumbered, the best defense is a proactive offense.

If you need an expert to audit your facility's pest program before the rush hits, let's talk. We make sure your defense holds up under pressure!