K-State Research and Extension

Summary of Evaluations

The Fourth Stored Product Pest Management and Heat Treatment Workshop was held during August 5-7, 2003 in the Department of Grain Science and Industry, Kansas State University. The pilot flour mill was heat treated using built-in steam heaters, plus an electric heater donated by Chromolox company. The pilot feed mill was heat-treated using natural gas heaters from TempAir.

The 49 workshop participants and 28 speakers were welcomed by Dr. Bh. Subramanyam (Subi). The workshop was jumpstarted with a talk on the bioterrorism and food security act, followed by updates on pesticide products such as phosphine, Profume, Dryacide, ECO₂Fume, and VaporPH₃OS. There were two talks on the use of pheromone traps and trap catch interpretation. The actual heat treatment session started with a talk on heat stress and how to avoid heat-related injuries. There were a total of 20 presentations on heat treatments, ranging from the history of heat treatments to basics of heat treatment, including pre- and post-heat treatment checklists. There were talks on new ways of analyzing effects of heat on insects, new temperature measuring devices, use of radio frequency for heat treating fruits and nuts, use of heat for controlling cockroaches, and use of heat treatment chambers for food and nonfood disinfestations.

Overall, there were 29 presentations. As the evaluations reflect all presentations were well received. There was a social hour and a banquet at the Ramada Inn on the first day followed by a talk on liabilities and risk management.

A total of 78 people participated in the workshop. Out of the 78, 49 were paid participants, and the remaining were either speakers or people working at Kansas State University. The workshops typically attract foreign participants. This year we had two participants from Austria, four from Canada, three from Japan, and two from Peru. The previous workshops had participants from Australia, Germany, New Zealand, Portugal, Sweden, and Canada. The breakdown of workshop participants and speakers according to their affiliations is given below:

The table of evaluations summarizes input from 36 participants. All percentages are based on this number. The 'No response' field refers to the respondents who did not attend the talk or failed to respond to a question.

Anyone interested in all three workshop proceedings and general information on heat treatments (a large volume) can obtain a copy by contacting Bh. Subramanyam (bhs@wheat.ksu.edu; 785-532-4092). The cost is $300 for all three proceedings, general information, and a CD-ROM. The check should be made out to AFIA.