Washington, DC, USA
January 2012
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) announced that Pennington Seed Inc., Madison, Ga., has paid $16,900 to settle alleged violations of the Federal Seed Act.
This settlement resolves 18 cases involving shipments of grass seed. Thirteen shipments of grass seed mixtures were shipped to Georgia, Kentucky, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, and Texas, where the seed was officially sampled. Portions of shipments to Kentucky and Nebraska had initially been shipped to Indiana, Kansas, and Ohio. Five shipments of tall fescue seeds were shipped to Georgia, Kentucky, and Missouri, where the seed was officially sampled. The alleged violations, while not the same for all shipments, were as follows:
-false labeling of pure seed percentages, germination percentages, date of test, the presence of noxious-weed seeds and rate of occurrence, and variety name; and
-failure to keep or supply complete records of the seed.
The company settled the cases in agreement with AMS officials. The company neither admitted nor denied the charges brought against them.
AMS administers the Federal Seed Act with the help of state seed officials. Seed regulatory officials in Georgia, Kentucky, Missouri, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, and Texas cooperated in the investigations of these cases. The Federal Seed Act is a truth-in-labeling law designed to protect farmers and consumers who buy seed.
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