<p style="text-indent:0px; line-height:12px;"><span style="font-weight:bold;line-height:130%"> Washington, D.C.</span><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">By Eric Anderson<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">4.3.13</p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p>The USDA has filed an administrative action against Agri-Sales Inc. for violations of the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act (PACA).<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">The Illinois-based company allegedly failed to make payment to seven produce sellers in the amount of $403,741 from April 2010 through February 2012.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">Agri-Sales Inc. will have an opportunity to request a hearing. If the USDA find that the company committed repeated and flagrant violations, it would be barred from the produce industry for two years. Furthermore, its principals could not be employed by or affiliated with any PACA licensee for one year and then only with the posting of a USDA-approved surety bond.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">The Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS), PACA Division, regulates fair trading practices of produce companies operating under the PACA. All oversight of actions related to the PACA are conducted by the AMS, an agency within the USDA. The PACA establishes a code of good business conduct for the produce industry. Under it, all interstate traders in fresh and frozen fruits and vegetables must be licensed by USDA. USDA is authorized to suspend or revoke a trader’s license for violating the act.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">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.</p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p><a class="btn btn-sm btn-primary col-lg-12" style="white-space: normal;" href=" http://www.ams.usda.gov/AMSv1.0/ams.fetchTemplateData.do?template=TemplateA&navID=Home&topNav=Home&page=Home&acct=AMSPW" target="_new">Agricultural Marketing Service</a></p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">
