A package. Illustrative image. - NICOLAS MESSYASZ / SIPA

The message is simple: if you have received a bag of seeds from China, do not sow them, the French Ministry of Agriculture warned in a statement released last week. 

For several weeks, anonymous packages containing seeds have been shipped from China. The latter are "vectors of diseases not present on French territory or [may] turn out to be invasive plants". The French authorities recommend not to open the bag and “above all not to sow them”.

At the end of July, unsolicited seed bags from China were received by private individuals
esThese seeds of unknown origin can be vectors of diseases not present in the territory 🇫🇷 or turn out to be invasive plantshttps: / /t.co/v5gddapOv5 pic.twitter.com/nEgbDhjfoo

- Ministry of Agriculture and Food (@Agri_Gouv) August 21, 2020

Packages sent to several countries

It was the services of the American Department of Agriculture which gave the alert at the end of July. It now concerns several countries: "At the end of July, in the United States and Canada, bags of seeds from China, in most of the cases, were received by individuals who did not order them. People living in France have just reported identical situations. The United Kingdom is also encountering a similar problem, as is Israel ”, explains the French ministry in its press release.

We have received reports of people receiving seeds from China that they did not order. If you receive them - don't plant them. Report to @USDA_APHIS at https://t.co/0U53rbAiHs pic.twitter.com/Y4yAKv5bk7

- WA St Dept of Agr (@WSDAgov) July 24, 2020

If you have received a similar package, the authorities recommend placing the sachets "in a plastic bag and throwing this hermetically sealed bag in your household waste bin so that the seeds are destroyed". “For the purposes of investigations”, the Ministry of Agriculture also asks those concerned by these packages to take photos and send them to the following address: bnevp.dgal@agriculture.gouv.fr.

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