Photo/Illutration A man in Miura, Kanagawa Prefecture, received this package in the mail on July 28. (Provided by the Miura city government)

Consumer affairs centers across Japan have received reports of deliveries of seeds from China that were never ordered, prompting warnings from the agriculture ministry about the potential hazards from such packages.

The National Consumer Affairs Center said people from the Tohoku to Kyushu regions have reported the seeds since July 28, but the tally of the mail deliveries has yet to be counted.

Similar seed deliveries from China have also been reported in the United States, according to U.S. media. The U.S. Agriculture Department on July 30 called on people to report any mail containing unordered seeds.

Likewise, the agriculture ministry on July 30 urged recipients of the seed packages to contact local authorities. It also warned the public not to plant the seeds because they could carry a disease or be contaminated with a hazardous pest.

Some of the seeds are believed to be for green onions, according to the ministry.

It added that it does not know the purpose of the unsolicited deliveries.

A 68-year-old man who lives in Miura, Kanagawa Prefecture, received a white envelope 16 centimeters by 12 cm with a transparent plastic bag containing about 100 seeds on July 28.

A slip of paper pasted on the envelope read “China Post,” as well as “Shenzhen, China,” and “jewel” for the entry of the contents. But the name of the sender was not included, and the envelope did not contain a bill.

The delivery slip also showed the man’s name, address and mobile phone number.

“I opened the envelope because I thought I may have ordered it by error through mail order,” the man said. “I was going to plant the seeds in my garden, but I became worried that they could be something dangerous and consulted with city officials.”

An official handling the matter at the National Consumer Affairs Center said the deliveries could be cases of “negative option billing,” in which charges are later applied to unordered goods that have been delivered.

The ministry said its plant protection stations have been on alert for the mysterious seeds since around July 29.

Under the plant protection law, seeds must be examined before they can be imported.

(This article was written by Rikuri Kuroda and Kanoko Tsuchiya.)