AMS No. 289-12

Nadine Wilkins (202) 720-8998

nadine.wilkins@ams.usda.gov

WASHINGTON, Jan. 16, 2013 – Under regulations of the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act (PACA), Regal Marketing Inc., headquartered in Scotch Plains, N.J., has posted a $50,000 cash surety bond.

The bond was posted with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to employ Ronald G. Delucas Jr. at a branch location in California, address yet to be determined. Ronald G. Delucas Jr. was previously named in a PACA action.

Delucas was an officer of Source One Produce Inc., Visalia, Calif., a company which failed to pay a reparation award issued against it under the PACA.

Any PACA licensee wishing to employ persons who have failed to pay a reparation award, or have been subject to a USDA disciplinary action, must post a USDA-approved surety bond.

USDA will hold the $50,000 bond for four years, providing assurance to the industry that the company will be able to pay for produce purchased and to conduct its business according to PACA rules.

The PACA requires that all interstate traders in fresh and frozen fruits and vegetables be USDA-licensed. The PACA establishes a code of good business conduct for the produce industry. USDA is authorized to suspend or revoke a trader’s license for violating the act.

In the past three years, USDA resolved approximately 5,000 claims filed under the PACA involving $96 million. This is just one more way USDA continues to support the fruit and vegetable industry.