Invasive grain pests found in Detroit Airport. What we know

US Customs and Border Protection Agriculture specialists intercepted the stays of the Khapra beetle at Detroit Metropolitan Airport final spring, say federal officials.

“The Khapra beetle is without doubt one of the many main threats we face at our borders,” Space Port Director Fadia Pastilong mentioned in a press launch. “This significantly damaging insect is understood to be extraordinarily troublesome to detect, and due to this fact even intercepting a forged pores and skin is a serious drawback.”

The Khapra beetle, touted because the world’s most invasive grain pest, was discovered at Detroit’s airport on April 18, 2025, when a traveler coming back from Lebanon was despatched for a secondary inspection after undeclared seeds had been found in his baggage. The CBP has seized the seeds.

Upon inspection, native officers from CBP and america Division of Agriculture (USDA) found a single forged pores and skin within the seeds.

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The beetle is certainly one of a number of bugs that the USDA quarantine considers vital, lifeless or alive, due to its capacity to invade warehouses or granaries and render saved produce inedible. Federal officers say the beetle might uproot the nation’s agricultural financial system.

The beetle will be inactive and is immune to pesticides, which beforehand meant management efforts had been prolonged and costly.

The traveler was warned to declare all agricultural items and was ultimately launched, officers mentioned.

Jalen Williams is a trending reporter on the Detroit Free Press. Contact him at jawilliams1@freepress.com.