U.S. government officials are starting to identify some of the mysterious seeds that have been sent from China to more than 1,000 American addresses across several states.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service within the Department of Agriculture has "identified 14 different species of seeds, including mustard, cabbage, morning glory, and some of the herbs like mint, sage, rosemary, lavender, then other seeds like hibiscus and roses," the USDA's Osama El-Lissy said. "This is just a subset of the samples we collected so far."
The unsolicited seeds began showing up at people's homes in recent weeks packaged in white or yellow envelopes. Reports say they had Chinese writing on them, and some were labeled as containing jewelry.
The USDA said in a media release on Friday that anyone who receives the packages should hold onto them and contact officials.
"At this time, we don't have any evidence indicating this is something other than a 'brushing scam' where people receive unsolicited items from a seller who then posts false customer reviews to boost sales," the USDA said. "USDA is currently collecting seed packages from recipients and will test their contents and determine if they contain anything that could be of concern to U.S. agriculture or the environment."
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