Miami firm sentenced for ‘false Scots salmon’

A Miami seafood company has been sentenced to three years of probation and fined $50,000 for falsely labeling salmon as a “product of Scotland.”

The US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida said UpRiver Aquaculture, also known as MKG Provisions, falsely labeled 286 cases of Chilean-imported farmed salmon as a “product of Scotland.”

Court documents said MKG processed, smoked, and repackaged the salmon into bags provided by client St. James Smokehouse — which has operations in Annan, Dumfriesshire and in Miami — that identified the salmon as “a product of Scotland.”

According to court documents, MKG received a shipment of approximately 286 cases of salmon at its Miami facility that was accurately identified as originating from Chile.

“MKG, acting through its employees and in connection with its business relationship with a client, St. James Smokehouse, Inc., processed, smoked, and repackaged the salmon into bags provided to MKG by St. James Smokehouse which identified the salmon as a product of Scotland,” said the US Attorney.

“The falsely labeled salmon was intended for wholesale distribution and sale by St. James Smokehouse and was eventually sold to consumers through various retailers to which St. James Smokehouse had sold the salmon.”

Read the US Attorney’s statement here: https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdfl/pr/florida-seafood-company-sentenced-federal-court-violating-lacey-act-falsely-labeling