A lawsuit by the Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF) alleging that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) allowed poultry producers to use images that don’t accurately depict production methods was dismissed by a U.S. appeals court.
The case specifically mentioned the agency’s approval of Perdue Farms’ Fresh Line labels. According to ALDF, the imagery promoting those products portray chickens and turkeys grazing outdoors is not accurate.
Such imagery is a violation of the Poultry Products Inspection Act, which forbids the use in the marketplace of labels bearing false or deceptive images about how the animals used in the products are raised, ALDF asserted in the lawsuit.
“The USDA has a legal responsibility to ensure animal product sellers are labeling their products accurately,” ALDF executive director, Stephen Wells, said at the time of the initial lawsuit.
“Consumers are willing to pay more for higher standards of animal care—and companies like Perdue are taking unfair advantage of consumer sentiment by pushing a false narrative on their packaging.”
The animal rights group claimed that one of its members was injured when she bought the product for her dog. USDA counterclaimed that food label reviews only apply to text, not pictures.
In addition, the agency said that ALDF lacked standing because the member, Maria Mastracco, could not be deceived by the label again in the future. A district judge ruled in favor of the USDA and ALDF appealed.
However, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeal panel officially ruled on August 9 that the animal rights group failed to establish standing to challenge USDA’s action.
“ALDF has not shown how Mastracco could be harmed again by the labels for Fresh Line chicken, the labels causing her future injury must be ones for competing products,” the judges wrote.
ALDF’s mission is to “protect the lives and advance the interests of animals through the legal system,” according to its website.
