WASHINGTON, March 26, 2025 – In a complaint filed on March 21, 2024, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) alleged that Safeway Fresh Foods LLC, Vineland, N.J., failed to make full payment promptly in the total amount of $3,863,509 to 13 sellers for multiple lots of produce in violation of the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act (PACA).
After the complaint was filed, USDA and Safeway Fresh Foods LLC entered into a Consent Decision and Order wherein Safeway Fresh Foods LLC agreed to pay the unpaid produce sellers listed in Appendix A to the Complaint and to pay a civil penalty in the amount of $60,000. As a result of Safeway Fresh Foods LLC satisfying the terms of the consent decision and order, the finding that it had committed repeated and flagrant PACA violations was permanently abated without further process and the case has been closed.
For more information, contact the Investigative Enforcement Branch at (202) 720-6873 or PACAInvestigations@usda.gov.
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The PACA Division, which is in the Fair Trade Practices Program in the Agricultural Marketing Service, regulates fair trading practices of produce businesses that are operating subject to PACA, including buyers, sellers, commission merchants, dealers and brokers within the fruit and vegetable industry.
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