Agriculture specialists at the Port of Oakland sent 1.2 million pounds of soybeans and 88,000 pounds of rice back to India in November, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection said Friday.
CBP returned the food because it discovered live and dead Khapra beetle larvae in the shipments.
The Khapra beetle is classified as a "top threat" by the United States Department of Agriculture, said USDA spokeswoman Abbey Powell. Powell is with the agency's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS).
"Previous U.S. detections of this tiny beetle have required massive, long-term and costly control and eradication efforts," says the USDA's hungrypests.com, a website devoted to raising awareness of invasive pest threats.
The beetle is a threat to stored grain products and seeds, hungrypests.com says, and because of its warm climate, California is highly susceptible to infestation.
