The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has filed an administrative complaint against National Produce/Farm Products LLC. The company, operating from Florida, allegedly failed to make payment promptly to two produce sellers in the amount of $152,035 from January 2024 through April 2024, in violation of the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act (PACA).
USDA has also filed an administrative complaint against Solstice Growers LLC. operating from Texas. It allegedly failed to make payment promptly to nine produce sellers in the amount of $308,849 from December 2023 through February 2025, in violation of PACA.
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In addition, USDA has imposed sanctions on two produce businesses for failing to meet contractual obligations to the sellers of produce they purchased and for failing to pay reparation awards issued under PACA. These sanctions include suspending the businesses' PACA licenses and barring the principal operators from engaging in PACA-licensed business or other activities without USDA approval.
Currently restricted from operating in the produce industry are:
- Saluza Sales Inc, Nogales, Ariz., for failing to pay $4,850 in favor of a Missouri seller. Norma Mihelish, Ramon Herrera and Antonio Garcia Valencia were listed as the officers, directors, and/or major stockholders of the business.
- Parimar Inc, doing business as D DeFranco & Sons, Los Angeles, Calif., for failing to pay $68,672 in favor of a California seller. Gerald S. DeFranco, Paul F. DeFranco and Richard J. DeFranco were listed as the officers, directors, and/or major stockholders of the business.
Smallhold, Inc., Brooklyn, N.Y., has posted a $50,000 surety bond with the USDA. The company was required under PACA to post the bond following its involvement in a bankruptcy. The company posted the bond as a prerequisite for obtaining a new license to operate in the produce industry.
USDA will hold the bond for three years and nine months, providing assurance that the licensee will conduct business according to the PACA and will pay any reparation awards that may be issued against it in connection with the transactions occurring within the period the bond is held.
Also on March 10, 2025, the USDA filed an administrative complaint alleging that Palumbo Foods LLC (Palumbo), Avondale, Pa., failed to make full payment promptly of $1,182,521 to nine sellers for multiple lots of produce purchased, received and accepted in interstate and foreign commerce, in violation of PACA.
USDA and Palumbo entered into a Consent Decision and Order in which Palumbo agreed to pay the unpaid produce sellers listed in Appendix A to the Complaint and to pay a civil penalty in the amount of $50,000. Palumbo has satisfied the terms of the Consent Decision and Order and the finding that it committed repeated and flagrant PACA violations has been permanently abated without further process. The case has been closed.
For more information:
Investigative Enforcement Branch
USDA
Tel: +1 (202) 720-6873
[email protected]
https://www.ams.usda.gov/
Penny Robinson-Landrigan (PACA violations)
USDA
Tel.: +1 (202) 720-2890
[email protected]
https://www.ams.usda.gov/
