A Mississippi seafood distributor and two managers were sentenced Tuesday for mislabeling imported seafood as premium Gulf Coast species. This practice misrepresented products sold to consumers and businesses for years.

Quality Poultry and Seafood Inc. (QPS), the largest seafood wholesaler on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, was sentenced to five years of probation and ordered to pay $1 million in forfeitures and a $500,000 criminal fine. The court also directed QPS to maintain detailed records of its seafood sources and costs for five years, making them available to regulatory agencies and customers.

“This case underscores the importance of accurate labeling in the seafood industry,” said U.S. Attorney Todd Gee of the Southern District of Mississippi.

Two QPS managers, Todd A. Rosetti and James W. Gunkel, were also sentenced. The sales manager, Rosetti, was sentenced to eight months in prison, followed by 180 days of home detention, one year of supervised release, and 100 hours of community service. The business manager, Gunkel, received two years of probation, 12 months of home detention, and 50 hours of community service.

QPS pleaded guilty in August 2024 to participating in a scheme to sell imported fish as local species from 2002 through 2019. The company sold imported fish as substitutes for premium local species at its retail shop and café and to restaurant clients. According to court documents, QPS continued these practices for over a year after an FDA investigation began in 2019.

Mary Mahoney’s, a Gulf Coast restaurant supplied by QPS, admitted in May to selling mislabeled fish from December 2013 to November 2019. Court documents indicated the restaurant fraudulently marketed more than 29 tons of fish as local premium species during that time.

The FDA’s Office of Criminal Investigations investigated the case in collaboration with the Mississippi Marine Patrol, a Mississippi Department of Marine Resources division. Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrea C. Jones and Senior Trial Attorney Jeremy F. Korzenik prosecuted the case.