TALLAHASSEE – Florida Agriculture and Consumer Services Commissioner Charles H. Bronson announced today that BP will pay $20 million to his department over the next three years to help fund enhanced seafood inspections and marketing efforts aimed at restoring public confidence in the safety of Gulf of Mexico seafood. Today’s agreement comes just over three months after the Commissioner sent a letter to BP President Bob Dudley outlining the added costs his department will incur in years to come to assure the safety of Gulf seafood and initiate marketing efforts in response to the Deepwater Horizon incident last spring. The letter was accompanied by a comprehensive food safety plan that detailed equipment that would be needed and tests that would have to be conducted to ensure that no lingering oil residues or chemical dispersants are present on the dozens of species of Gulf seafood harvested in Florida, including shrimp, crabs, oysters and dozens of species of finfish. “We are grateful to BP for its responsiveness to our request and feel confident that these funds will go a long way toward assuring the safety of seafood harvested in Florida waters and in restoring consumer confidence in our seafood products,” Bronson said. Although the agreement that ...
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