California Accepts Amended Phantom Label

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. – The California Department of Pesticide Regulation has accepted a label amendment for BASF's Phantom® insecticide when used for nuisance ant control. The amended Phantom label allows for the use of Phantom in food/feed product areas of food/feed handling establishments, where food and food products are held, processed, prepared and/or served. This new use is added to the existing use of the insecticide for nuisance ant control in non-food handling areas of structures.

Phantom can now be applied in California as a spot or crack and crevice treatment inside houses, apartments or other residential structures; meat, poultry and egg processing and packaging plants; and the food/feed and non-food/feed handling areas of commercial, institutional and warehousing establishments, such as schools, groceries, and supermarkets, restaurants and cafeterias, hotels and motels, hospitals, and nursing homes, warehouses and industrial buildings, laboratories, zoos, pet shops, computer facilities, and sewers.

“BASF is very excited that the amended Phantom food-handling label has met the stringent regulatory requirements of the California Department of Pesticide Regulation,” comments Karl J. Kisner Senior Marketing Manager, BASF –The Chemical Company. “This amendment provides BASF Partners in California with even greater application flexibility with the product, in some of the most difficult locations to control nuisance ants – food-handling areas.”

In addition to the food-handling amendment, the California Department of Pesticide Regulation also granted an amended Phantom label for application to pest entry points on the exterior surfaces of structures.

The amended label follows U.S. EPA approval of study results earlier this year evaluating the exposure of Phantom to foods following treatment. Results demonstrated that no Phantom residues were found on food in food handling areas following a labeled application.

Phantom is currently not labeled for control of cockroaches in California.