Fishy Business Gets Fine For Miami Company
MIAMI (CBS4) - These days it seems like everything you buy is "made in China", but South Floridians might think their seafood, at least, comes from here. Federal prosecutors say that's what one Miami company wanted you to believe, but their fish products labeled "made in the U.S.A" actually came from China, and Thursday, the company was fined for lying to customers.
The charges against MKG provisions of Miami involved thousands of pounds of Haddock, a popular fish often found in fish sticks and fast food fish sandwiches. A Miami company has pleaded guilty to falsely labeling thousands of pounds of imported haddock as made in the U.S.
Federal prosecutors say last year, MKG bought 10,600 pounds of haddock imported from China. That's not against the law, but relabeling boxes to sell the fish as if it was U.S.-produced is. That's what prosecutors claim the company was doing.
Court documents show that investigators issued a warning and MKG claimed it was clerical error. However, prosecutors claim the mis-labeling continued even after MKG was warned, leading to the federal charges.
A federal judge on Thursday fined MKG Provisions Inc. $20,000 and placed the company on one year's probation, and ordered the company to come up with a plan to prevent similar occurrences in the future.
The problem of mis-labeled fish has plagued the restaurant industry, with many reports of people buying expensive fish like Chilean sea bass only to find the fish was actually something else.
Federal law requires imported food products to carry the country of origin
Many buyers refuse to purchase food products made in China following a number of product tainting scares involving Chinese food.
