Hundreds of Americans, possibly thousands, planted Chinese mystery seeds received in the mail this summer, Vice News revealed via FOIA-requested information on Tuesday. Some recipients reportedly told state government authorities that they ate the seeds.
A senior official with the International Seed Testing Association (ISTA), which certifies agricultural products, warned this weekend that packages of unlabeled seeds appearing to come from China could represent “seed terrorism.”
Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller warned Texans to “exercise extreme caution” if they receive unsolicited seed packets from China. The “mystery seed packets” showed up recently in mailboxes in at least 31 states in recent days.
Mysterious packages of seeds believed to be from China have landed in the mailboxes of Americans across several states over the past week, leading to a warning from agricultural officials not to plant them.
