N.C. seafood shipper sentenced for false import labels

Alphin Brothers, a North Carolina-based seafood processor and wholesale distributor, was sentenced this week in federal court for falsely labeling imported shrimp.

   The U.S. Justice Department said Alphin Brothers, a North Carolina-based seafood processor and wholesale distributor, was sentenced this week in federal court for falsely labeling imported shrimp.
   In response to a plea agreement entered on Feb. 10, the company pleaded guilty to one felony count of making or submitting false records in violation of the Lacey Act.
   Court documents also said an Alphin Brothers employee, who purchased and sold shrimp on the company’s behalf, directed company employees and workers at another processor to falsely label about 25,000 pounds of farm-raised imported shrimp as “wild-caught” product of the United States. The falsely labeled shrimp was then sold by Alphin Brothers to customers in Louisiana.
   During the sentencing, the court ordered the company to pay a criminal fine of $100,000 and forfeit about 21,450 pounds of shrimp. 
   Alphin Brothers will also serve three years of probation and must set up a training program to educate its employees on federal labeling requirements. 
   Federal regulations for country of origin labeling (COOL) require seafood retailers to provide customers with notice of the country of origin and the method of production—wild-caught or farm-raised—for shrimp and other shellfish.
   Under the COOL regulations, shrimp may be labeled as “product of the United States” only if it was harvested and processed in the United States, or by a U.S.-flagged vessel, and has not undergone “substantial transformation” outside the country. “Packing, repacking, thawing, freezing, cleaning, peeling, deveining, grading, cooking, or soaking shrimp in sodium tripolyphosphate solution does not constitute a substantial transformation under the COOL regulations,” the Justice Department explained.
   The maximum penalties for a felony violation of the Lacey Act include up to five years in prison and $250,000 in fines for individual defendants and up to $500,000 in fines for corporate defendants.