Today’s Top Supply Chain and Logistics News From WSJ

One of the problems shippers have is the use of naphthalene as an insecticide. It is hugely toxic, and the odor is detectable at ppm. Not so much the past few months, but in the past the stench has permeated all types of packaging, particularly cardboard, and it is absorbed by what is inside, including food. I got some organic Kale at the local grocery one time that I had to return because it smelled like naphthalene. I smell everything now before putting it in my cart!
In addition to toxicity, unannounced toxicity at that, it also raises the question about insecticides used by shippers of organic produce. Was the gas put into shipping containers that contained food, or did it pick up the stench at the grocery store, since the stench of naphthalene permeated packaging clings to anything near it - given that it sublimates, even at ppm concentrations. At the end of last year (holiday time . . . mostly Oct-Jan) I walked into more than one store where the smell of naphthalene was so strong at the entrance it was overwhelming. Was it due to stocking new shipments or do stores, including grocery stores, spray it as insecticide?