Washington, DC
July 23, 2008
The U.S. Department of Agriculture
today announced that a Tangent, Ore., seed company has paid USDA
$3,700 to settle alleged violations of the Federal Seed Act.
The company, Barenbrug USA, 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 shipments of one
lawn seed mixture to Ohio, one perennial ryegrass shipment to
Pennsylvania, and one common vetch shipment to Texas. The
shipment to Ohio was subsequently reshipped to a location in
Indiana.
The alleged violations, while not the same for all shipments,
were:
- false labeling as to pure
seed and other crop seed;
- false labeling as to
germination rate;
- failure to conduct
germination test prior to interstate shipment;
- false labeling as to date
of test, and
- false labeling as to kind
name.
AMS administers the act with the
help of state seed officials. Seed regulatory officials in
Indiana, Pennsylvania, 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. |
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