Fish firm hit with $400,000 penalty

The CEO of a Seattle fish-processing company was ordered to pay a $400,000 penalty and sentenced to one year of probation for selling tainted fish that was eventually resold for human consumption.

Rodger Douglas May, 40, of Seattle, pleaded guilty earlier this year in U.S. District Court in Seattle to introducing adulterated food into interstate commerce.

He said Monday during his sentencing that his company, Smoki Foods, would never again purchase fish that was supposed to be sold as bait food. "Short of watching it be destroyed, you could not be sure it would not make it into commerce," May said.

According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, Smoki Foods imported nearly 300,000 pounds of fish from Canada in 2001. A portion of that fish had been tainted by an ammonia leak at a cold storage facility, but the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) allowed the fish to be imported into the country with the understanding that it would be sold only as bait.

Prosecutors said the company first attempted to clean the fish so it could be sold for human consumption. When the FDA refused to change its stance, prosecutors claimed, the company sold the fish for bait but turned a "blind eye" when it was subsequently resold as human food.

According to the court records, a large amount of the vacuum-packed flounder, sole and tuna was sold to a food brokerage in Florida that resold the fish to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons.

Prosecutors said that some inmates at the Rochester, Minn., federal prison facility reported suffering stomach disorders after consuming the tainted fish but there was no evidence that anyone became seriously ill.

May was ordered to pay a fine of $266,666 and a community-service payment of $133,334 to the National Wildlife Foundation and Sea Share, a seafood donation program.

Christine Clarridge: 206-464-8983 or cclarridge@seattletimes.com