Federal agents have confiscated and destroyed a fungus harmful to plants that was found on brooms imported from the Philippines.

While examining a cargo container in Honolulu on Aug. 9, U.S. Customs and Border Protection agriculture specialists discovered the fungus on a handicraft made of native palm parts. The fungus was in a shipment of “native brooms” made from Cocos nucifera, a palm species.   

The discovery of the fungus and other signs of plant disease in the shipment prompted federal authorities to reload and seal the container until positive identification could be made.

Specimens were submitted to the U.S. Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, which identified the fungus as Guignardia cocogena (Cooke), which is not known to occur in the United States.

This was the first time this fungus was intercepted in the United States and the first time Guignardia has been identified on a palm, U.S. Customs said.

To prevent the possibility of a new plant disease becoming established in Hawaii and the rest of the U.S., the shipment was destroyed by steam sterilization.

“This is, once again, an example of the great work our agriculture specialists do in cargo protecting domestic agriculture industry from pests and diseases,” Hilda Montoya, assistant port director for U.S.

Customs in Honolulu, said in a statement. “This is one of the top priorities in our mission to protect the homeland and our economic security.”