If you find a cloud of tiny flies buzzing around your kitchen counter fruit bowl, something in the bowl has probably turned. Fruit flies are attracted to overripe and fermenting fruit and vegetables. These miniscule flies feed on the high sugar content found in decaying fruits and vegetables and use the surface of spoiled produce as a breeding ground.
‘Overnight’ Infestation
Prolific breeders, a couple of fruit flies can seem to morph into an annoying infestation nearly overnight. Fruit fly infestations are most noticeable in residential kitchens during the summer months, but these pests pose a serious year-round problem for Monmouth County commercial kitchens, restaurants and grocery stores.
In addition to kitchens and produce displays, fruit flies are frequently found around dumpsters and trash cans where they feed and breed on discarded fruit. This makes these flies likely, if undocumented, carriers of potentially dangerous pathogens.
Can You Eat Infested Fruit?
Just 1/8 inch long, fruit flies have tan colored bodies with protruding red eyes, a distinctive feature that helps to distinguish these flies from other small pest flies such as drain flies and phorid flies. While you wouldn’t want to eat or serve fruit infested with fruit fly eggs or larvae; because fruit flies are surface feeds and breeders, spoiled sections of infested fruit can be removed and the remaining healthy fruit eaten or served without risk.
A cloud of fruit flies hovering over your produce section can drive customers away. For fruit fly extermination that is prompt, safe and effective, contact Allison Pest Control’s commercial pest control team. If fruit flies infest in your Monmouth County home, contact our residential pest extermination experts today.