As part of its efforts to enforce the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act and ensure fair trading practices within the U.S. produce industry, the Department of Agriculture has imposed sanctions on five produce businesses for failing to meet their contractual obligations to the sellers of produce they purchased and failing to pay reparation awards issued under the PACA.

The following businesses and individuals are currently restricted from operating in the produce industry:

• Chefd Inc., operating out of El Segundo, Calif., for failing to pay a $91,439 award in favor of a New York seller. As of the issuance date of the reparation order, Emily Waldorf, Peter Boyes, Lawrence Perkins and Jason Ackerman were listed as the officers, directors and/or major stockholders of the business.
• OKA Group LLC, operating out of Doral, Fla., for failing to pay a $44,526 award in favor of a Florida seller. As of the issuance date of the reparation order, Yesmin Rodriguez was listed a member or manager of the business.
• Golden Horse LLC, operating out of Secaucus, N.J., for failing to pay a $6,910 award in favor of an Illinois seller. As of the issuance date of the reparation order, Oi Cheng and Kong Cheng were listed a members or managers of the business.
• Nile Food Importing Corp., operating out of Brooklyn, N.Y., for failing to pay a $5,600 award in favor of a California seller. As of the issuance date of the reparation order, Mohamed Elsehetry was listed as the officer, director and/or major stockholder of the business.
• Countryland Farms LLC, operating out of Nashville, Ga., for failing to pay a $4,075 award in favor of a Texas seller. As of the issuance date of the reparation order, Gary Barfield was listed a member or manager of the business.

 These sanctions include suspending the businesses’ PACA licenses and barring the principal operators of the businesses from engaging in PACA-licensed business or other activities without approval from USDA. By issuing these penalties, USDA continues to enforce the prompt and full payment for produce while protecting the rights of sellers and buyers in the marketplace.

In the past three years, USDA resolved approximately 3,500 PACA claims involving more than $58 million. PACA staff also assisted more than 7,800 callers with issues valued at approximately $148 million.