(13 Feb 2019) Throughout the five-week government shutdown, one essential government service continued at Miami International Airport: Checking for exotic bugs in bunches of roses destined for Valentine's Day bouquets.
US Customs and Border Protection agriculture inspectors kept up their round-the-clock inspections without pay just as the pre-holiday rush of flower imports started to peak.
About 90 percent of cut flowers imported into the US every year come through the Miami airport.
Border Protection agriculture specialists check those goods by hand, stem by stem, for stowaways that could threaten US crops.
Valentine's Day is the number one holiday for most florists, and the industry cautiously monitored the shutdown for any delays in getting their flowers through customs.
Rose growers start their carefully timed production plans three or four months early, in order to have the flowers blooming for February 14.
The roses begin arriving in Miami soon after New Year's Day, and the push continues through Valentine's Day.
All year long, the volume of roses and other flowers coming into Miami is vastly larger than anywhere else in the US.
Over 6 billion cut flower stems were examined here in 2018, compared with just under 1 billion processed at ports from Boston to Honolulu.
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