Animal Rights Group Can Sue Hormel

Animal Legal Defense Fund Alleges Animal Mistreatment Following Investigation

Todd Neeley
By  Todd Neeley , DTN Staff Reporter
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The Animal Legal Defense Fund will be allowed to sue Hormel for false advertising under a consumer protection law in the District of Columbia. (DTN file photo)

LINCOLN, Neb. (DTN) -- The Animal Legal Defense Fund will be allowed to sue Hormel for alleged false advertising under the District of Columbia's Consumer Protection Procedures Act, after a federal appeals court on Thursday ruled the group has standing.

A lawsuit originally filed in June 2016, alleges Hormel was misleading consumers through the advertising of its natural choice brand of lunch meats and bacon.

A Superior Court in the District of Columbia granted summary judgment in Hormel's favor and ruled the Animal Legal Defense fund lacked standing to sue. On Thursday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit reversed that ruling.

Animal Legal Defense Fund conducted an undercover investigation at a Nebraska farm owned by The Maschhoffs, LLC, an Illinois-based pig producer and one of Hormel Foods' largest suppliers. The group alleged the plant was violating the law in its treatment of animals.

Animal Legal Defense Fund has argued Hormel's advertising of meat products as a natural choice was misleading and in violation of the D.C. law.

"In its view, the ads falsely convey to consumers that the animals were treated humanely and that the products are free from preservatives," the group said in a news release.

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The Superior Court ruled Animal Legal Defense Fund's claims were preempted by federal laws regulating the labeling of meat and poultry products.

In 2006, Hormel launched its natural choice line of deli meats, including beef, ham, turkey and chicken products.

According to the ruling from the D.C. Circuit before the products hit the market, Hormel was required by law to submit the proposed labeling for USDA approval.

USDA approved labels describing Hormel's natural choice meat products as "natural," "all natural," "100% natural," and containing "no preservatives."

In 2015, Hormel launched its "Make the Natural Choice" advertising campaign that included print and video ads describing natural choice deli meats as "100% natural," "all natural," with "no preservatives." The ads also used descriptors such as "clean," "honest," "higher standards," and "wholesome."

Shortly after Hormel launched the campaign, Animal Legal Defense Fund discovered the pigs slaughtered to make Hormel products had been subjected to what the group describes in court documents as "egregious and stomach-churning" treatment.

The group covertly investigated a pig-breeding facility it later identified as a Hormel supplier. Animal Legal Defense Fund then lobbied the USDA to prohibit use of the term "natural" on the labels of all meat and poultry products from so-called factory farms.

"According to ALDF, the descriptor trades on consumers' mistaken beliefs that meat products described as natural are sourced from humanely raised livestock," the D.C. Circuit said in its ruling.

"It specifically identified Hormel's natural choice deli meats as misleading consumers in that way, despite the USDA's approval of their labeling."

The group later published the results of its efforts online, along with the findings from its covert investigation.

Animal Legal Defense Fund also engaged in other advocacy against Hormel and lobbied against a regulation proposed by the USDA concerning a pig slaughter inspection program, and to challenge ag-gag laws.

Todd Neeley can be reached at todd.neeley@dtn.com

Follow him on Twitter @DTNeeley

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Todd Neeley

Todd Neeley
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