DATE: Tuesday, June 17, 1997                TAG: 9706170324

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B7   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS 

DATELINE: NORFOLK                           LENGTH:   50 lines

FISH COMPANY FINED FOR HAVING WRONG LABELS ON SCALLOPS

A Gloucester County seafood company and two of its executives were fined Monday in a case involving mislabeled scallops.

International Seafood Distributors Inc. must pay $54,272 to the government and give $15,000 to a charity as a form of community service, U.S. District Judge Raymond A. Jackson ordered.

Company president Thomas E. Fass, 30, and his father, Irving L. Fass, 67, who is vice president, each was fined $25,000 and ordered to perform 150 hours of community service.

Both men and the company also received two years of probation.

Federal prosecutors said the company failed to disclose that scallops had been treated with sodium tripolyphosphate, which causes scallops to absorb moisture and increase in weight.

The chemical is not illegal but should have been listed on labels, U.S. attorneys said. The chemical did not pose a health threat to consumers, officials said.

The men, who live in Newport News, each pleaded guilty in March to a misdemeanor charge of adulteration or misbranding of a food or drug and had faced possible prison sentences of up to one year.

The company was charged with conspiracy to falsify a material fact, a felony.

``We are very sorry it all occurred,'' Irving Fass told the judge. ``We tried our very best to make amends for any errors that occurred at that time.''

His son said: ``We regret this incident occurring.''

According to a Food and Drug Administration summary of the case, the investigation started with a tip from three former employees who said International Seafood regularly mislabeled its products.

The charges originated as a result of scallops that were shipped to Canada in 1993 but were not accepted and were returned, said Richard Gordon, an attorney for the Fasses. He said he was not sure why the scallops were returned.

The Fasses held onto the scallops for three months and then sold the shellfish, which they should not have done, Gordon said in an interview.

When the government asked to see the scallops, ``they did switch some scallops and said these are the ones,'' Gordon said.

Gordon said no seafood that was not fit for consumption was ever sold.

Tom Hill, another attorney for the Fasses, said the case of mislabeling was an isolated incident.

``Of the thousands of transactions, we're talking about a couple of instances of failure to label a preservative,'' Hill said after the hearing.

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