Foie gras friends

FRITZ MAYER
Posted 4/25/18

FERNDALE, NY — As Hudson Valley Foie Gras (HVFC) appeals its battle with California to the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS), it has lined up 11 states, France, the Quebec Food …

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Foie gras friends

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FERNDALE, NY — As Hudson Valley Foie Gras (HVFC) appeals its battle with California to the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS), it has lined up 11 states, France, the Quebec Food Processing Council, the U.S. Poultry & Egg Association and the Cato Institute to file amicus briefs with the court.

HVFG wants the high court to overrule California’s ban on foie gras. The Golden State passed the ban in 2004, but it did not go into effect until 2012. The law was struck down as the result of a lawsuit in 2015 by a judge who ruled the ban improperly superseded the Poultry Products Inspections Act (PPIA) passed in the 1950s.

But that ruling was reversed in 2017 by a panel of judges on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. “Nothing in the federal law or its implementing regulations limits a state’s ability to regulate the types of poultry that may be sold for human consumption,” Judge Jacqueline Nguyen wrote. But the ban will not take effect until the appeals process is finished, and that is ongoing.

The brief from the Cato Institute sees the California law as having wide-ranging repercussions. It says, “The Ninth Circuit’s upholding of [the law] could undermine our national markets in food and decide ultimately whether all future meat production will be outlawed in America.”

The brief from the State of Missouri and 10 other states essentially makes the argument that lawmakers in California are out of control. It says, “Under the Constitution and federal statutes, California lacks power to regulate agriculture or commerce beyond its borders. But, despite the text and structure of federal law, California is enacting law after law governing other states’ economies. And no matter how many times California’s laws regulate other states, the Ninth Circuit refuses to enjoin these regulations and enforce federal law…”

The Republic of France says, “If the Ninth Circuit’s PPIA preemption opinion is allowed to stand, the sale of USDA-approved poultry (or meat) products that either are exported from France or other nations to the United States—or are produced here but are identical or substantially similar to French or other foreign-produced products—will be left vulnerable to the political whims of 50 different state governments….”

The Quebec Food Processing Council writes, “If, as the Ninth Circuit has now held, any state or local government can ban the sale of items covered by USDA regulations and the NAFTA, should the government of Canada and/or Canadian food producers proceed to negotiate trade agreements with individual states and local governments, rather than the federal government?” It adds, “The next product that California might choose to regulate could be chicken, beef, or pork….”

The U.S. Poultry & Egg Association writes, “This Court’s intervention is necessary to forestall pervasive disruptions and serious dislocations in the poultry and egg industry, which would prove injurious not only to employers and workers in that sector, but also to consumers nationwide. While on its face limited to foie gras, [the law] represents a nascent effort to upend the detailed regulatory code carefully wrought by Congress and the USDA over decades.”

Marcus Henley, vice president of Hudson Valley Foie Gras, says the company has a $100 million economic impact in Sullivan County.

ferndale, foie gras, food

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