Washington, DC
March 5, 2008
The
U.S. Department of Agriculture today announced that an
Orangeburg, S.C., seed company has paid USDA $2,350 to settle
alleged violations of the Federal Seed Act.
The company, Mixon Seed Company, Inc., 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
sorghum seed, Pensacola bahiagrass seed, and a seed mixture made
to Georgia.
The alleged violations, while not the same for all shipments,
were:
- failure to keep and/or
supply a complete record of the seed;
- failure to label the
shippers name and address or the shippers code;
- false germination test
date;
- false labeling in regard
to germination; and,
- false labeling in regard
to noxious-weed seed.
AMS administers the act with the
help of state seed officials. Seed regulatory officials in
Georgia 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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