Agriculture specialists with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) found live Khapra Beetle larvae and a number of dead adult beetles comingled within a shipment of rice from Saudi Arabia in Philadelphia earlier this month.
Considered one of the world’s most destructive insect pests of grains, cereals and stored foods, the Khapra Beetle remains the only insect in which CBP takes regulatory action against even while in a dead state. Because of the finding, USDA has taken action and implemented restrictions on certain products imported from countries where the beetles are known to occur.