Stories of the fatal bacterial disease citrus greening often focus on growers, who have seen their annual harvest decline by more than 70 percent because of greening.

Just as severely impacted have been Florida's fresh citrus packinghouses, which buy a large portion of Florida's annual orange, grapefruit and tangerine harvests and sell them to supermarket chains and retailers across the U.S. and ship to export markets, including Japan, Canada and Europe.

In the 2000-01 citrus season, Florida had 106 citrus packinghouses operating across citrus belt, which runs roughly south of Interstate 4, according to the Florida Department of Citrus. That was before greening was first confirmed in Florida in the fall of 2005.