A Canadian wholesaler has pleaded guilty to illegally importing seafood into the United States.
Seven Seas Fish Company of Richmond, British Columbia, Canada, and company owner John Heras pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Seattle, Washington, U.S.A., to importation of previously refused food. Seven Seas also agreed to pay a USD 150,000 (EUR 135,000) fine.
Between October 2014 and August 2015, Seven Seas imported more than 9,000 pounds of potentially adulterated corvina into the U.S. The fish had previously been refused entry into the U.S., because the U.S. Food and Drug Administration found samples of the fish “too decomposed and putrid,” said the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Washington in a press release.
In addition to the fine, Heras could face to up to a year in prison when he is sentenced in February 2020.
In June 2014, Seven Seas purchased 12,100 pounds of frozen corvina for USD 36,375 (EUR 33,000) from a supplier in Mexico. The company attempted to have the fish imported into the U.S. at the Otay Mesa Port of Entry.
However, when FDA consumer safety officers examined the fish, they determined that one-third of the samples from the shipment were more than 20 percent spoiled. The shipment was refused entry to the U.S. Seven Seas arranged for the fish to be lawfully shipped through the U.S. to its plant in Richmond, claiming that the product would be distributed in Canada, according to the press release.
After the fish arrived in British Columbia, Heras “cooked and ate some of the fish and claimed he found nothing wrong with it,” the U.S. Attorney’s office said. “Despite his knowledge that the fish had been refused entry to the U.S., Heras encouraged others within Seven Seas to sell the fish to customers in Washington state and elsewhere.”
Around 9,020 pounds of the fish was imported into the U.S. without the required notice to the Secretary of Health and Human services.
The FDA did not find any illness linked to those who consumed the fish.
Photo courtesy of Lunamarina/Shutterstock
