Quality Seafood committed to ‘transparency,’ manager says after catfish recall
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Quality Poultry & Seafood recalled 98,916 pounds of catfish after USDA review
- Repackaged products bypassed inspection due to regulatory change
- Company pledged compliance and transparency with all regulatory agencies
A federal regulatory change has forced Quality Poultry and Seafood to recall all its catfish fillets processed between Sept. 2, 2024 and Sept. 5, 2025, the Biloxi seafood processor has acknowledged.
The recall included 98,916 pounds of catfish fillets not inspected by the USDA, an agency news release said.
The 5-pound and 15-pound packages of catfish fillets were sold at Quality’s store on Division Street, and shipped to retail outlets and restaurants in Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana.
“While Quality Poultry & Seafood’s Biloxi facility operates under USDA inspection, the specific repackaging process of converting USDA-inspected 15-pound bulk packs into 5-pound portions had not been included in prior USDA inspection,” said a statement Quality emailed Tuesday to the media. “Going forward, this operation will be fully integrated into USDA inspection procedures.”
The USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service announced the recall in a news release Monday. No adverse reactions to the products have been reported, the news release said. But the agency advised that any of the fillets stored in refrigerators or freezers should be thrown away or returned to Quality.
“The problem was discovered when the establishment notified FSIS that they were producing catfish products and FSIS determined they were produced without inspection,” the news release said.
Fernando Mejia, Quality’s director of Finance & Operations, noted that the recall was voluntary, as the FSIS news release confirmed.
Mejia’s statement said the seafood wholesaler, billed as the Mississippi Coast’s largest seafood market, is working with the USDA “to strengthen and continuously improve operations.” Mejia said the business is committed to “full transparency with all regulatory agencies.”
He joined the company after two of its employees, including the owner’s son, were sentenced in a federal case of seafood mislabeling that also netted Mary Mahoney’s Old French House restaurant. The case was widely publicized because both businesses are Biloxi institutions.
The businesses admitted passing off imported seafood as Gulf fresh. The Mississippi Legislature earlier this year passed a law that forbids restaurants from representing foreign seafood as domestic.
