Dive Brief:
- Alphin Brothers Inc., a North Carolina seafood processor and distributor, must pay a $100,000 criminal fine and forfeit more than 20,000 pounds of shrimp after claiming the shrimp were wild-caught in the U.S., according to sentencing. The company must also serve three years of probation and institute a training program on federal labeling requirements.
- "According to court documents, an employee who acted on the company’s behalf, purchasing and selling shrimp, directed his colleagues to falsely label about 25,000 pounds of farm-raised imported shrimp as a wild-caught product of the United States. That shrimp was later sold to customers in Louisiana," Triangle Business Journal reported.
- In February, the company also "pleaded guilty to one felony count of making or submitting false records in violation of the Lacey Act," according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Dive Insight:
Under country-of-origin labeling (COOL) requirements, seafood retailers must label where their products came from, and federal regulations also require that companies disclose the method of production, such as wild-caught or farm-raised. COOL requirements may no longer be in effect if Canada and Mexico's demands for COOL's repeal are upheld.
Canada has threatened the U.S. with high tariffs if the government does not repeal COOL, which Canada and Mexico feel has harmed the sales of their meat and seafood products. The House voted in favor of COOL's repeal in June.
Earlier this month, the United States Trade Representative (USTR) filed a legal brief in the World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute, which said that the two countries' economic methodology was "flawed' and "severely" overestimated the effects of COOL on Canada and Mexico's products.