[Pest Control] Time Sensitive

The longer a product is stored the greater its chance for pest infestation. Consider the voyage of an overseas grain purchase from the field to your plant. The grain is picked then most likely stored for some period of time at a field location. It is then transported to the dock for shipping; potentially stored in a public warehouse awaiting the next U.S.-bound ship; stored on a ship with other goods for weeks from port to port to port across the ocean; then put on another railcar or truck — or both — to your plant.

It’s no wonder that global supplies can pose the greatest challenge of all incoming goods. “Between the time it is harvested and the time the food processor gets it, there can be a very long period,” said Earl Hallberg, technical services manager for Presto-X in Omaha, Neb. “This product can be months old.”

Add to the time factor the number, type and condition of warehouses the commodity may have been stored in along the way; the number and regulations — or lack of regulations — of countries and ports the commodity passed through; and the condition of products with which the commodity was shipped and stored, you end up with a product ripe for pest infestation.

“It’s a long, slow process and things have time to develop,” said Orkin Technical Manager Pat Copps. “If you’re receiving goods from overseas, you really want to be taking a close look at it before you bring it into your plant.”

This is also true, because it’s not always easy to trace the history of any product all the way back to the field, and this traceability can become incredibly complex when the commodity is coming from another country.  “The problem is just knowing the history of some of these products — where they are coming from and how they are getting here,” Hallberg said.

In addition, said Mark “Shep” Sheperdigian, vice president of technical services for Rose Pest Solutions in Troy, Mich., “returns are tough.” If you do receive a shipment that has pests, you don’t always have a lot of options. “The supplier is not right around the block; you can’t get another one tomorrow.”

International shipments can also be a challenge, “because you can’t be 100 percent sure of what you’re getting unless you’re auditing it,” Copps said. “Who are you going to trust?” In the U.S. you can go to the supplier’s facility and check it out, but with overseas goods, “you have a lot less control.” Many countries have less stringent regulations than does the U.S. and although the goods will have to pass inspection coming into the states, you still may not know the history of the product and infestation potential. And, he added, “a lot of things seem to get through.” For this reason, Copps advises that the processor find a reputable third-party auditor in the country of origin to inspect the supplier and its facilities.

It is especially critical to work with trusted suppliers as much as possible when getting goods from overseas, Sheperdigian agrees. And for both U.S. and international goods, “when you do identify a supplier who chronically sends infested goods, put them on notice.”