Animal Legal Defense Fund sues USDA over poultry labeling practices
USA – The Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF) and two of its members have taken legal action against the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), accusing the agency of approving misleading poultry labels without reviewing the imagery as required by law.
The lawsuit, filed on February 24, challenges the USDA’s pattern of allowing chicken and turkey products to feature images that depict animals in outdoor, pasture-like settings despite the birds being raised entirely indoors in industrial farming facilities.
Dispute Over Perdue Farms’ Labels
One of the key examples highlighted in the complaint is Perdue Farms’ Fresh Line products, which include labels showing chickens and turkeys roaming in green fields under a bright sky.
According to ALDF, these illustrations do not reflect the conditions in which the animals are actually raised, as they spend their entire lives inside factory farm warehouses.
Federal law mandates that the USDA review labels on poultry products to ensure they accurately represent the food being sold.
However, the lawsuit argues that the agency has disregarded this obligation by approving misleading packaging that creates a false perception of humane animal treatment.
The complaint also identifies additional poultry products with similar imagery, claiming the USDA has failed to assess whether these labels provide truthful information to consumers.
ALDF asserts that by neglecting this duty, the agency is allowing companies to misrepresent their farming practices.
Rising consumer awareness about animal welfare has led to increasing scrutiny of food labels.
A survey conducted by Technomic found that 77% of consumers are concerned about the treatment of animals in food production, while more than two-thirds actively pay attention to labels that indicate how animals are raised.
ALDF Managing Attorney Daniel Waltz criticized the USDA’s handling of label approvals, stating that federal regulations explicitly prohibit misleading marketing tactics in the sale of animal products.
He emphasized that the lawsuit aims to hold the government accountable for ensuring that consumers receive accurate information.
This is not the first time ALDF has taken legal action on this issue.
In 2021, the organization sued the FSIS over the approval of similar labels on Perdue Farms products, arguing that the agency’s failure to properly review label imagery contributed to deceptive marketing.
The current lawsuit contends that by approving Perdue Farms’ Fresh Line labels without the required review, the USDA is failing to enforce its own regulations.
ALDF argues that this oversight enables poultry producers to mislead consumers while obscuring the reality of large-scale factory farming.
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