Washington, DC, USA
July 2, 2012

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) announced that The Scotts Company LLC, Marysville, Ohio, has paid $2,925 to settle alleged violations of the Federal Seed Act.

This settlement resolves four cases that involved two shipments of grass seed mixtures to Kentucky, one shipment of hard fescue to Missouri, and one shipment of grass seed mixture to Texas. The alleged violations, while not the same for all shipments, were as follows:

• false labeling as to germination percentage;
• false labeling as to germination test date; and
• false labeling as to pure 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 assistance of state seed officials. The investigations were completed through the joint efforts of AMS and seed regulatory officials in Kentucky, Missouri and Texas. The Federal Seed Act is a truth-in-labeling law designed to protect farmers and consumers who buy seed.
 

Website: http://www.ams.usda.gov

Published: July 2, 2012