A Mississippi seafood distributor faces a five-year FDA import ban and hefty fines after getting caught selling foreign fish disguised as local catch to unsuspecting customers for nearly two decades.
At a Glance
- Quality Poultry & Seafood (QPS) of Biloxi, Mississippi, has been banned from importing seafood for five years by the FDA
- The company pleaded guilty to a fish substitution scheme that lasted from 2002 to 2019, selling cheap imported fish as premium local species
- QPS forfeited $1 million and was fined $500,000, while two managers received sentences including prison time and home detention
- Despite the ban, company officials claim normal operations will continue as they obtain all seafood through domestic wholesalers
Long-Running Deception Scheme
Quality Poultry & Seafood, a wholesaler based in Biloxi, Mississippi, has been hit with serious penalties after pleading guilty to conspiring to mislabel seafood and commit wire fraud. The company was caught substituting inexpensive imported fish for premium local varieties, a deceptive practice that continued for nearly 17 years from 2002 through November 2019. This extensive scheme specifically targeted consumers seeking locally-caught Gulf Coast seafood, allowing the company to charge premium prices for inferior products.
The fraud wasn’t limited to occasional instances but represented a systematic business practice that continued even after authorities executed a criminal search warrant. According to court documents, QPS persisted with its illegal activities for over a year after being investigated, showing a deliberate disregard for regulations designed to protect consumers and honest fishermen.
Severe Penalties and Individual Accountability
The FDA’s five-year import ban is among the harshest penalties the agency has imposed, having only issued similar bans to two other businesses in its history. In addition to the import prohibition, QPS was sentenced to five years of probation, ordered to pay $1 million in forfeitures, and fined $500,000. The company must also maintain detailed records of seafood species, sources, and costs for the next five years, making this information available to regulatory authorities upon request.
Individual employees did not escape accountability. Sales manager Todd A. Rosetti received an eight-month prison sentence, followed by 180 days of home detention, one year of supervised release, and 100 hours of community service. Business manager James W. Gunkel was sentenced to two years of probation, 12 months of home detention, and 50 hours of community service. The ripple effects extended beyond QPS, with Mary Mahoney’s, a restaurant supplied by the company, also pleading guilty to selling mislabeled fish.
Company Claims Business as Usual
Despite the severity of the sanctions, Quality Poultry & Seafood maintains that the import ban will have minimal impact on its operations. Company attorney Wayne Hengen has argued that QPS doesn’t directly import seafood, stating: “It doesn’t impact what Quality does. They’re not importers. They don’t import. They never have imported.” This statement appears to contradict the FDA’s findings that led to the import ban in the first place.
QPS continues to sell both local and imported seafood through domestic wholesalers, suggesting the company has found a workaround to continue operations despite the legal troubles. The company’s owner, Clell Rosetti, issued an apology but was not personally charged with any crimes. The FDA’s decision to impose the maximum five-year debarment indicates the agency determined that QPS’s conduct had “seriously undermined” import regulations designed to protect American consumers.
The joint investigation that uncovered this seafood fraud was conducted by the FDA Office of Criminal Investigations and the Mississippi Marine Patrol, with prosecution handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrea C. Jones and Senior Trial Attorney Jeremy F. Korzenik. This case highlights ongoing concerns about seafood mislabeling and the economic impact of such practices on local fishing industries and consumer trust in food labeling.
