Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Enforcement Division agents cited two men for alleged commercial seafood labeling violations on March 4 in Orleans Parish.
Agents cited Sean Delaune, 26, of New Orleans, for misbranding seafood packages and Thomas Smith, 49, of Darien, Georgia, for conspiring to misbrand seafood packages. Agents seized 14,850 pounds of mahi-mahi filets from the men.
During an inspection of the Gulf Atlantic Fisheries seafood wholesalers in New Orleans, agents observed packages of mahi-mahi filets being repacked from one bag labeled for retail sale into another bag labeled for retail sale. Further inspection of the two bags showed the major difference between the bags was the "best by" dates.
The bags that had the mahi mahi filets had a best by date of September of 2013 being repackaged into bags with May of 2016 best by dates.
Louisiana law prohibits acts that are falsely represented using any mark, stamp, tag, label or other authorized information.
Misbranding seafood brings up to a $1,000 fine and up to one year of imprisonment. Conspiring to misbrand seafood brings up to a $500 fine and up to six months of imprisonment. Further punishment is the loss of the product that totaled 14,850 pounds of mahi mahi filets.
Agents participating in the case are Sgt. Edward Ridgel, Sr. Agents Michael Williams and Michael Marques and Lt. Louis Burnett. Further citations may be pending.
For more information, contact Adam Einck at 225-765-2465 or aeinck@wlf.la.gov.