Distributor to Pay Fine for Mislabeling Oysters : Settlement: Prosecutors say Captain Salty’s misbranded the harvest date on 80 cases of seafood. Admitting no wrongdoing, the firm agrees to refrain from ‘deceptive and misleading’ advertising.

A Garden Grove seafood distributor that mislabeled the “freshness” dates on dozens of cases of oysters has agreed to pay nearly $33,000 in penalties under a lawsuit settlement, a county prosecutor said Monday.

The consumer protection lawsuit charged that Captain Salty’s Seafood Inc. misbranded the “harvest date” last November on 80 cases of oysters intended for local distribution.

“Obviously, there are health and safety concerns about eating oysters that are not fresh,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Andrea L. Burke of the Consumer Protection Unit of the Orange County district attorney’s office. “There are various viruses and other health issues to be worried about if oysters are sitting around on shelves.”

The corporation has not admitted wrongdoing, but under the settlement agreed to pay $32,756.25 in civil penalties and investigation costs and refrain from “deceptive and misleading” advertising, Burke said.

The mislabeling was discovered during a routine inspection by the state Department of Health Services, Food and Drug Branch.

The mollusks were tested and found to be safe for consumption before they were sent on their way to area buyers, Burke said. Before shipment, the labels were changed to reflect the true harvest date.

Burke said Captain Salty’s officials were aware that the oysters were harvested on Nov. 5, 1993, but mislabeled tags to indicate the harvest date as being several days later.

A lag in the time between harvest and consumption can lead to illness, said Burke, who noted that many connoisseurs enjoy their oysters raw.

Ozzie Schmidt, a supervisor with the state health department, said mislabeling also can stymie efforts to trace tainted oysters to their source.

“The loss of traceability is the most serious problem,” Schmidt said.

Captain Salty’s general manager Mike Armstrong and Motivatit Seafood Inc., of Louisiana, which shipped the mollusks to Orange County, were also named in the lawsuit but could not be reached for comment Monday.