WASHINGTON, April 23, 2014 – Under regulations of the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act (PACA), Andrighetto Produce Inc., operating in San Francisco, Calif., has posted a $250,000 cash surety agreement.
The cash surety agreement was posted with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to employ Cesar Nevarez, previously named in a PACA action. Nevarez was an officer of Action Produce Inc., South San Francisco, Calif., which was found to have committed repeated and flagrant PACA violations.
Any PACA licensee wishing to employ persons who have failed to pay a reparation award, or have been subject to a USDA disciplinary action, must post a USDA-approved surety bond or cash surety agreement.
USDA will hold the $250,000 cash surety agreement for four years, providing assurance to the industry that the company will be able to pay for produce purchased and to conduct its business according to PACA rules.
The Agricultural Marketing Service, (AMS), PACA Division, regulates fair trading practices of produce businesses operating subject to PACA, which includes buyers, sellers, commission merchants, dealers and brokers within the fruit and vegetable industry. All oversight of actions related to PACA are conducted by AMS, an agency within USDA.
In the past three years, USDA resolved approximately 4,600 claims filed under PACA involving more than $87 million. This is just one more way USDA continues to support the fruit and vegetable industry.
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