The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has banned Biloxi, Mississippi, U.S.A.-based seafood wholesaler and retailer Quality Poultry and Seafood (QPS) from importing food into the U.S. for five years.
The agency said in a recent Federal Register notice that it is taking the action because the company was convicted of a felony count for conduct related to importation.
The felony count stems from a federal court case in which Mary Mahoney’s Old French House, a seafood restaurant in Biloxi, admitted to selling frozen imported fish supplied by QPS that it falsely advertised on its menu as locally sourced premium species between December 2013 and November 2019.
At the QPS sentencing hearing in December 2024, Judge Sul Ozerden of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi placed the wholesaler on five years probation for conspiracy to commit misbranding and wire fraud and fined it USD 500,000 (EUR 439,560). The firm was also ordered to forfeit USD 1 million (EUR 879,000) to the U.S. Marshal Service and pay a USD 400 (EUR 352) special assessment fine.
In QPS's ...
