Washington, DC
July 6, 2007
The
U.S. Department of Agriculture today announced that a
Halsey, Oregon seed company has paid USDA $2,025 to settle
alleged violations of the Federal Seed Act.
The company, Smith Seed Services, settled the case in agreement
with officials from USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS).
The company neither admitted nor denied the charges.
The case, resolved by the settlement, involved three shipments
of annual ryegrass, a grass seed mixture, and tall fescue seed;
there was one shipment shipped to Tennessee which was reshipped
to Georgia; and two shipments shipped to Ohio, which were
reshipped to Georgia and Texas.
The alleged violations, while not the same for all shipments,
were:
- false labeling as to pure seed and weed seed; and
- false labeling as to germination test date.
AMS administers the act with the help of state seed officials.
Seed regulatory officials in Georgia and Texas cooperated with
AMS in making the investigations. The Federal Seed Act is a
truth-in-labeling law designed to protect farmers and consumers
who buy seed. |
|
