WASHINGTON – USDA has filed action against Poppell’s Produce Inc., a Georgia-based company, for PACA violations.
The Agricultural Marketing Service, an agency within USDA, alleged in a press release that the company failed to make payment to 20 produce sellers in the amount of $327,702 from September 2012 through December 2013.
Poppell’s Produce Inc. will have an opportunity to request a hearing. If USDA finds, however, that the company committed repeated and flagrant violations, it would be barred from the produce industry for two years. In addition, 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.
All interstate traders in fresh and frozen fruits must be licensed by USDA under PACA. If any trader violates the act, USDA is authorized to suspend or revoke their license.
In the past three years, USDA resolved approximately 3,700 PACA claims involving more than $66 million. Its experts also assisted more than 7,100 callers with issues valued at approximately $100 million. These are just two examples of how USDA continues to support the fruit and vegetable industry.
