NC seafood processor fined $100,000 for mislabeling shrimp

According to court documents, an employee of Alphin Brothers Inc. encouraged others at the Dunn seafood processing facility to falsely label approximately 25,000 pounds of shrimp later sold to customers in Louisiana.

A federal court on Tuesday imposed the fine and sentenced Alphin Brothers Inc. to forfeit approximately 21,450 pounds of shrimp. During the company's probation, employees will be trained on federal labeling requirements.

Under those federal standards, known as COOL, which stands for “country of origin labeling,” only shrimp harvested and processed in the United States or by a United States-flagged vessel may be labeled as a product of the United States.