Held v. CTC Food International Inc.

The parties involved in the case Held v. CTC Food International Inc. executed a Consent Judgment on September 23, 2015.  In this matter, citizen enforcer Anthony E. Held, Ph.D., P.E. alleged that CTC Food International Inc. (“CTC”) sold dried hijiki seaweed containing the chemical arsenic in the State of California without providing the requisite health hazard warnings.

As part of the agreement, CTC agreed not to sell any dried hijiki seaweed in California after September 22, 2015, unless the seaweed contains no more than 5 parts per billion of arsenic when analyzed using state or federally approved testing methodologies.

The Consent Judgment required settlement payments of $20,000, divided therein between civil penalties, 75% of which are paid to California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, and compensation to whistleblower Held and his counsel for their successful enforcement of this matter in the public interest.