Agricultural Marketing Service
 
Florida Firm Pays $1,400 to Settle Seed Case
 
AMS No. 033-13

 
Nadine Wilkins (202) 720-8998

 
WASHINGTON, Feb. 27, 2013 – The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) announced that North Florida Peanuts Inc., Trenton, Fla., has paid $1,400 to settle alleged violations of the Federal Seed Act.

 
This settlement resolves three cases, which involved one shipment of Pensacola bahiagrass seeds and two shipments of Japanese millet seeds to Georgia and North Carolina. The alleged violations, while not the same for all shipments, were:

 
-false labeling of pure seed, inert matter, and other crop seed percentages; and
-failure to label the presence of noxious-weed seeds.

 
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 and North Carolina. The Federal Seed Act is a truth-in-labeling law designed to protect farmers and consumers who buy seed.

 
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