Food Processing and Stink Bugs: A Bad Combination

While the jury is out on how bad of a stink bug year this will be, they can cause big headaches for food-grade facilities. These overwintering pests set up camp in wall voids during the cooler months, but emerge during warmer days. Keeping them out before the fall influx is important: stink bugs have no place in food production, and facilities can be shut down because of a stink buginfestation.

Stink bugs can stop a food production line.

From Your NY/North Jersey Commercial Pest Control Specialist: “There are pockets of New Jersey that really get problems, while in other areas it’s not that bad. When food plants get stink bug problems, assessing and treating wall-void access points is important.” – Mike Whalen, Commercial Regional Sales Manager, NY/North Jersey

Proximity to agricultural areas may play a role in a facility’s propensity for stink bug challenges. Access points are also a factor. Whalen notes that stink bugs sometimes enter through factory intake fans. Unfortunately, all is takes is a bug sighting during a third-party audit to create an expensive problem.

The good news is that there are ways to seriously limit the number of stink bugs that get in: primarily, structural alterations that eliminate access. Contact your commercial pest control team to learn more about how a smart approach to stink bug control starts with prevention.

Posted on October 19, 2012