On Tuesday, in American Meat Institute v. USDA, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, upheld the constitutionality of USDA regulations mandating detailed country-of-origin labeling for meat products that indicate where the animals were born, raised, and slaughtered.
AMI argued in court that the rules go beyond what Congress intended and violate First Amendment rights to freedom of speech by forcing meat producers to provide information about their products without “directly advancing a government interest.” The full appellate panel heard the case after a three-judge appeals panel ruled against the industry but suggested that the full court may want to review its decision.
The first panel had ruled that the industry’s claims were unlikely to succeed in court and said a consumer’s interest in choosing domestic meat is worthy of what the court called a “minimal” intrusion on the meat industry’s First Amendment rights. In the opinion issued Tuesday, Judge Stephen F. Williams of the U.S. Court of Appeals, who was also on the three-judge panel, upheld the earlier decision and wrote for the majority of the full panel.
Judge Williams wrote that the government’s interest in country-of-origin labels is “substantial” because there is a long history of such disclosures; a demonstrated consumer interest in knowing where food comes from; and individual health concerns and market impacts that could arise if there is a foodborne illness outbreak in one of the countries.
