On July 15th, 2021, Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF) won a lawsuit against the FDA concerning the release of layer production information to the public. The lawsuit was originally opened in December 2011 when the ALDF submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for documents relating to egg safety and production in Texas.
What happened?
In the lawsuit, the FDA explained that their objective is to inspect egg production establishments to protect the public from adulterated food, and then collect the findings in narrative reports called Establishment Inspection Reports (EIRs).
The FDA presented multiple EIRs for major egg producers including Cal-Maine Foods, Feather Crest Farms Inc., Mahard Egg Farm Inc., and Pilgrims Pride Commercial Layer. The reports included information concerning total hen population, number of hen houses, number of floors per house, number of cage rows per house, number of cage tiers per house, and number of birds per cage.
In the trial, the judge discovered that the shell egg market is extremely competitive, and that contracts are negotiated between egg producers and buyers.
Industry personnel from the companies listed above testified, explaining that the information could be used to estimate an egg producer’s production capability and prices, which are significant factors in a company’s development of a bid to potential customers. However, the judge thought the information gave an “incomplete picture” of the industry and would not have a significant impact on bids.
Furthermore, the FDA claimed that hen-related information could be legally kept from the public due to the “trade secrets and commercial or financial information” exception under FOIA Exemption 4. However, the egg producers involved were required to show how the information was kept confidential to be protected.
Because the producers could not present non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) signed by their employees, the ALDF argued that the information was never confidential in the first place. Evidence in the case showed that egg producers did not prevent their suppliers or servicers from disclosing the layer housing information through NDAs, but held visitors to that standard.
When asked, the United Egg Producers had no comment on the ruling at this time.
