Households around the state and country — including some in Johnson County — received mysterious, unsolicited packages of seeds.
The seeds usually arrive in a mailing envelope with Chinese writing on it and no packing slip inside.
State officials are asking those who receive the packages to not throw it in the trash or plant it, but send it to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service’s Indiana office in Franklin.
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State and federal officials believe the seeds may be part of a “brushing” scheme. Companies send unsolicited products and make fake reviews in the name of the receiver, according to a news release from Purdue University.
But the investigation is ongoing, and more and more packages are arriving. The inspection service is working with the Department of Homeland Security’s Customs and Border Protection and state agriculture departments to find the origin and put a stop to the mysterious mailings, according to the USDA.
The inspection service found that the seeds are not all the same type of plant. Most of the seeds are a type of vegetable, but some are grains or an undetermined plant, said Don Robison, seed administrator with the Office of Indiana State Chemist.
In Indiana, the inspection service and Robison’s office are taking the lead on the investigation. Each package will be analyzed then incinerated, Robison said.
Though it might be tempting to plant the seeds and see what grows, Robison and his office strongly discourage it. Safe disposal of the seeds by plant experts is the best way to avoid introducing something harmful to the local environment, he said.
“There’s a lot of damage that can cause,” Robison said. “We don’t know what these seeds are, and there is potential for doing serious harm to everything from your backyard garden to the commodity and specialty crops that are such an important part of the agricultural economy. The last thing we want is to spread a weed, invasive species or disease, and that’s a real risk if people plant these or throw them in the garbage.”
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Anyone who receives unsolicited seeds should place both the seeds and packing materials in a sealed plastic bag, then in a mailing envelope or box.
Packages should be shipped to:
USDA APHIS PPQ
State Plant Health Director
Nick Johnson
3059 N. Morton St.
Franklin, IN 46131
Anyone who cannot mail the seeds is asked to contact the Indiana Department of Natural Resources Division of Entomology and Plant Pathology at 866-663-9684 or [email protected].
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