Washington, DC, USA
November 13, 2012

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) announced that DLF International Seeds, Halsey, Oregon, has paid $1,575 to settle alleged violations of the Federal Seed Act.

This settlement resolves two cases that involved one shipment of annual ryegrass seed and one shipment of a forage seed mixture, each to Texas. The alleged violations, while not the same for all shipments, were as follows:

• false labeling as to the presence of noxious-weed seed;
• false labeling as to variety names;
• false labeling as to germination test date;
• failure to declare seed to be a mixture; and
• failure to supply complete records of the seed, as required by the Federal seed Act.

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 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: November 13, 2012