Release No.: 118-17
WASHINGTON, Oct. 24, 2017 – The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has imposed sanctions on five produce businesses for failure to pay reparation awards issued under the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act (PACA).
The following businesses and individuals are currently restricted from operating in the produce industry:
- Emotional Fruit LLC, operating out of La Quinta, Calif., for failing to pay a $71,867 award in favor of a California seller. As of the issuance date of the reparation order, Jeff Bohl, Boomerang Limited LLC, Raymond Express International LLC, John Tree and Ross A. Westbrook were listed as members of the business.
- Zilo Produce LLC, operating out of Lockport, Ill., for failing to pay a $5,415 award in favor of an Illinois seller. As of the issuance date of the reparation order, Salvatore J. Aiello and Frank J. Zingale were listed as members of the business.
- Domanth Inc., doing business as Medoff Produce, operating out of New Brunswick, N.J., for failing to pay a $9,990 award in favor of a Pennsylvania seller. As of the issuance date of the reparation order, Dominic R. Bellifemine was listed as the officer, director and major stockholder of the business.
- Giglio Produce Co. Inc., operating out of Sharon, Pa., for failing to pay an $11,888 award in favor of an Ohio seller. As of the issuance date of the reparation order, Joel F. Giglio and Dominic R. Giglio were listed as the officers, directors and/or major stockholders of the business.
- Supreme Harvest LLC, operating out of Brownsville, Texas, for failing to pay a $61,395 award in favor of a Tennessee seller. As of the issuance date of the reparation order, Adrian R. Bazan was listed as a member of the business.
PACA provides an administrative forum to handle disputes involving produce transactions; this may result in a reparation order being issued that requires damages to be paid by those not meeting their contractual obligations in buying and selling fresh and frozen fruits and vegetables. USDA is required to suspend the license or impose sanctions on an unlicensed business that fails to pay PACA reparations awarded against it as well as impose restrictions against those principals determined to be responsibly connected to the business when the order is issued. Those individuals, including sole proprietors, partners, members, managers, officers, directors or major stockholders may not be employed by or affiliated with any PACA licensee without USDA-approval.
The PACA Division, which is part of USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS), regulates fair trading practices of produce businesses that are operating subject to PACA including buyers, sellers, commission merchants, dealers, and brokers within the fruit and vegetable industry.
In the past three years, USDA resolved approximately 3,500 PACA claims involving more than $58 million. Our experts also assisted more than 8,000 callers with issues valued at approximately $140 million. These are just two examples of how USDA continues to support the fruit and vegetable industry.
For more information, contact John Koller, Chief, Dispute Resolution Branch at (202) 720-2890, by fax at (202) 690-2815, or by email at PACAdispute@ams.usda.gov regarding this matter.
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