International Falls, Minn. - U.S. Customs and Border Protection agriculture specialists recently discovered potentially destructive pests at the International Falls rail facility.
A container arriving from Bangladesh via Canada was targeted by CBP on Sept. 8 for an intensive agriculture examination for potential foreign pests. The shipment, destined for Chicago, was offloaded and the containers swept out.
During the inspection of the pallets, a total of 14 live insects were intercepted and sent to the U.S. Department of Agriculture for identification.
USDA specialists identified two of the insects as a scaly cricket (Mogoplistrida sp), and a gall midge (Xylodiplosis sp.), both actionable pests. These insects are detrimental to plant growth and development and may not occur in the U.S. Gall midges are tiny mosquito-like insects that attack plant tissue and form galls in which their larvae develop. Scaly crickets are small crickets that can't fly, but eat the leaves of a wide variety of plant species.
The shipment will be fumigated to remove the pest threat before final distribution of the commodity into the U.S.