MIAMI, FL — You might be surprised to learn those beautiful Valentine’s Day flowers likely came from thousands of miles outside the United States. Even more surprising might be that a small army of agricultural inspectors in Miami helped make sure no creepy, crawly insects were in them before you ever told your special someone you would have been just as happy with a simple greeting card.

“You’ve probably been a pest all year long with your sweetheart, and now we’re going to try to prevent Valentine’s from having any additional pests in your life or their life,” quipped Zachary Mann with U.S. Customs and Border Protection in Miami.

That’s because most of the flowers sold by florists, wholesalers, convenience stores and even street vendors don’t come from the United States.

“It’s about 23 percent of the flowers sold in the U.S. are grown in the United States,” acknowledged Katie Butler, senior vice president of the Virginia-based Society of American Florists, which represents 7,000 retailers, wholesales and growers around the country. “The rest are imported, primarily imported through Miami.”

In all, 92 percent of the flowers arriving into the United States from other countries make a stop in Miami before being sent on to other U.S. cities. New York and Los Angeles also receive significant shipments of flowers from other countries, but not nearly as many as Miami.

That amounts to 6 billion stems passing through Miami each year — of which, 1 billion arrive in the four weeks leading up to Valentine’s Day, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials.

Colombia accounts for most of the Valentine’s Day imports, or about 680 million stems, followed by Ecuador with 227 million, the Netherlands with 21 million, Mexico with 19 million and Guatemala with 12 million, according to data shared by the agency.

The National Retail Federation estimated that Americans will spend $2.3 billion on flowers over this year’s Valentine’s Day holiday, fueled by strong consumer finances and a continued trend of buying gifts, cards, candy and flowers for friends, family, co-workers and even pets.

Uniformed agriculture specialists with the Customs and Border Protection agency don blue gloves as they shake and pat small samples from each shipment. They look for beetles, moths and dozens of other insects on long white tables under bright lights.

Their mission is to prevent any of the 50 to 60 bugs they find each day from making it outside of the dozens of cargo inspection areas where flowers are processed just outside Miami International Airport. One mistake could have devastating economic consequences for U.S. farmers.

“We have our own type of pests in the United States, but coming from other countries, they are different and they feed on different crops,” said Abel Serrano, acting assistant port director of agriculture with Customs and Border Protection.

While Serrano would not share the total number of inspectors assigned to Miami, he said there has been a 30 to 40 percent increase in the number of shipments coming into Miami ahead of Valentine’s Day and a corresponding increase in inspectors.

“This is the biggest flower inspection operation in the nation,” Serrano said. “We bring additional personnel from other ports to help us.”

In addition to flowers, the agency also inspects 75 percent of the produce and other agricultural products entering the United States in Miami to make sure they also are pest- and disease-free.

“We use a lot of risk-based management,” he said. “There are some flowers that are higher risk than others in terms of pests.”

Even with a 2 percent inspection rate, the agency sill examined 2.5 million stems over the past year in Miami.

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“In a year, we find 16,000” pests, Serrano said. When pests or diseases are found, shipments may be fumigated and released, sent back to the country of origin or even destroyed in some cases.

In the past, agriculture specialists have prevented species of Noctuidae and Aphididae, commonly known as the Owlet Moth and aphids, from entering the country.

The top three types of flower shipments coming into the U.S. for this year’s Valentine’s season so have been roses and mixed bouquets.

Butler of the Society of American Florists added that there is no surprise when it comes to the most popular flower in America for the holiday.

“For Valentine’s Day, according to our study: Roses, which isn’t a surprise,” she said.