Washington, DC
April 14, 2009
AMS No. 075-09
The U.S. Department of
Agriculture’s (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS)
announced today that Pennington Seed Inc., a seed company
operating out of Madison, Georgia., has paid $11,375 to settle
alleged violations of the Federal Seed Act. The company settled
the case in agreement with AMS officials. The company neither
admitted nor denied the charges brought against them.
This settlement resolves a case which involved 12 shipments of
crimson clover, grass seed mixtures, and tall fescue seed to
Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, Ohio, Texas, and
Wisconsin. Portions of the shipments to Maryland, Missouri, and
Ohio were subsequently shipped into New York, Minnesota, and
Indiana, respectively, where they were officially sampled. The
shipment into Wisconsin was subsequently shipped into Minnesota,
where it was officially sampled. The alleged violations, while
not the same for all shipments, were as follows:
- false labeling of pure
seed, inert matter, weed seed, germination percentages,
species name and test date; and
- failure to keep labeling,
processing, receiving, and shipping records.
AMS administers the Federal Seed
Act with the assistance of state seed officials. The
investigation was completed through the joint efforts of AMS and
seed regulatory officials in Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky,
Minnesota, New York, and Texas. The Federal Seed Act is a
truth-in-labeling law designed to protect farmers and consumers
who buy seed. |
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