Jun 28, 2011
US Supreme Court decides on lame pig ban
The meat sector's challenge to California's prohibition on the sale of pork created from "downer" pigs, those that were too weak to walk before they were culled, would be heard by the US Supreme Court on Monday (Jun 27).
The 2008 law, backed by the Humane Society, has not taken effect. It was challenged by meat processors and packers, who argue that federal regulations of swine slaughterhouses prohibit states from passing stricter rules on pork sales.
The Ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco upheld the state law in March 2010 in a ruling that dismissed industry arguments as "hogwash." But the Supreme Court said on Monday it would take up the case in the term that starts in October.
Legislators passed the law after a Humane Society video showed downer cows, those unable to stand or walk on their own, being kicked, dragged, shocked and rammed with forklifts at a California slaughterhouse.
In response to testimony that meat from those animals was more likely to be diseased, lawmakers prohibited the sale of any products from downer animals for human consumption.
Federal regulations also ban sales of meat from downer cattle, but allow sales of meat from nonambulatory pigs and other animals unless they show signs of certain diseases.
The central issue in the case is whether a provision of the federal rules, barring states from imposing additional requirements on a slaughterhouse's "premises, facilities and operations," allows a state to restrict sales of pork from a federally inspected slaughterhouse.
In upholding the California law, the appeals court said the federal government regulates meat inspection but leaves states "free to decide which animals may be turned into meat." The National Meat Association said the ruling wrongly allowed states to interfere with federal inspection.
As the state law requires slaughterhouses to immediately euthanise downer pigs, it prevents federal inspectors from examining those pigs before death for signs of disease, the association's lawyer, Steven Wells, said Monday.
That presents "a real threat to the food supply," he said.
But Humane Society lawyer Bruce Wagman said the California law would promote safety by making sure that any downed pig not slaughtered and sold for human consumption. That way, he said, "there's no chance that any diseases they had will go into the food supply."
The Obama administration filed arguments agreeing with the industry group's criticism of the appeals court ruling but concluding that Supreme Court review would be premature and unnecessary, because California has only a small fraction of the nation's slaughterhouses.