West Liberty Foods seeks $3 million from Kraft Heinz

West Liberty Foods is seeking more than $3 million from Kraft Heinz Food Company, claiming Kraft Heinz breached its contract when it stopped delivering turkey breast meat in September.
A hearing on the case will be held in U.S. District Court in Des Moines, Iowa, on October 30.
According to the Quad-City Business Journal, West Liberty Foods filed an emergency order for a preliminary injunction against the company for failing to fulfill the terms of its contract reached on December 2014.
The emergency order follows a complaint filed by West Liberty Foods in September, alleging that in the agreement, Kraft agreed to supply 5 million pounds of turkey breast meat during 2015 at a price of $2.20 per pound. The complaint also notes that Kraft had informed West Liberty Foods on September 2 that it would not be making any additional deliveries of turkey breast meat after September 8. The complaint further states that under the contract, Kraft Heinz still owes West Liberty Foods 2.8 million pounds of turkey meat.

Other legal action against Kraft Heinz

This is not the first time in 2015 that Kraft Heinz has been taken to court over allegations that it failed to meet its contract obligations as a supplier of turkey meat.
Earlier in October, a Pennsylvania judge ordered Kraft Heinz to honor its contract with Mrs. Ressler’s Food Products and provide 36,000 pounds of turkey breast meat twice a week for the remainder of the terms of the contract.
Kraft-Heinz had claimed it was unable to meet the terms of the agreement because of losses to the turkey supply brought on by the avian influenza outbreak.
Both the contract with West Liberty Foods and the one Mrs. Ressler’s were signed prior to the Kraft Foods was purchased by H.J. Heinz and the Kraft Heinz Food Company was formed.

US Labor Department accuses Pilgrim’s of discrimination

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) has filed a lawsuit against Pilgrim’s, alleging the poultry company systematically discriminated against qualified African-American applicants seeking entry-level jobs as laborers and operatives at its plant in Marshville, North Carolina.
"Discrimination will not be tolerated by employers who profit from government contracts," said OFCCP Director Patricia A. Shiu. "OFCCP will use every action available by law, including canceling Pilgrim's federal contracts if necessary, to ensure workers are treated fairly."

Lawsuit second against Pilgrim's in past 30 days

The complaint results from an OFCCP investigation into the company's selection procedures. This is the second lawsuit filed by OFCCP against the company in less than 30 days. The first complaint, filed on September 15, alleges that Pilgrim's systematically discriminated against qualified African-American, Caucasian, and female applicants for entry-level laborer and operative positions at its chicken plant in Athens, Alabama. Both complaints were filed with the department's Office of Administrative Law Judges and seek complete make-whole relief, including instatement of qualified black applicants at the chicken processing facility, payment of lost wages, interest, front wages, and other fringe benefits, including but not limited to retroactive seniority.
OFCCP stated that it reviewed the two facilities for compliance with Executive Order 11246, which prohibits federal contractors from discriminating against job applicants on the basis of race and national origin. The agency said that in 2007 and 2008, the Marshville facility's selection criteria were inconsistently applied, unfairly discriminating against African-American applicants. OFCCP also found that Pilgrim's Pride failed to maintain records and to perform in-depth analyses of its employment processes to determine if impediments to equal employment opportunity existed, as required by Pilgrim's federal contracts and OFCCP regulations.
From 2007 to 2011, Pilgrim's received more than $36 million in federal contracts as a provider of poultry to agencies such as the departments of Defense and Agriculture, according to the OFCCP.

Unsafe conditions at Tyson Foods plant alleged in video

Tyson Foods has been targeted in a video released by the Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF), which claims that line speeds at a Tyson plant were too fast and created both animal welfare and worker safety issues.
The video was allegedly filmed at Tyson’s plant in Carthage, Texas, by an undercover investigator who gained employment at Tyson Foods. The video contains comments from the investigator about the working conditions at the plant, although her face is shaded and her name is not offered.

Tyson Foods responds to allegations

Officials from Tyson Foods stated the company is still reviewing the video, but added that Tyson Foods is “absolutely committed to proper animal handling and workplace safety.”  The company stated that it operates all plants within the line speed limits set by the federal government, and continuously monitors its facilities to assure workplace safety.
Responding to allegations of improper animal handling, Tyson Foods stated it did not receive any complaints of that nature during the time frame when the video was believed to have been filmed.
“Everyone who works with live animals in our plants – including the person who secretly shot this video – is trained in proper animal handling and instructed to report anything they believe is inappropriate. They can report to their supervisor, the Tyson Foods compliance and ethics hotline and even one of the USDA inspectors who have access to all parts of the plant, including live animal handling areas. During the timeframe we believe this video was shot, we have no record of any employees reporting claims of animal handling violations,” the company stated. “In addition to training, we regularly conduct our own internal animal handling audits in our plants. Our operations are also subject to third party audits.”

Complaints filed against Tyson Foods

ALDF, in a press release, stated it has recently filed three related complaints against Tyson Foods. Those complaints include:

• A complaint with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, claiming unsafe working conditions for employees
• A complaint with the USDA, alleging inhumane handling practices and food safety violations
• A complaint with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, accusing Tyson Foods of overstating the priority it puts on animal welfare in corporate and investor materials

Moark sells egg farms to Hillandale

Moark L.L.C. has sold its remaining egg farms in Maine to Hillandale Farms, according to a report.
Town managers in Winthrop and Leeds, Maine, where the former egg farms are located, say they believe the sites no longer have chickens on them. The other egg farm is located in Turner, Maine.
The farms formerly were leased three years ago from Jack DeCoster for 10 years with the option to buy. It is unclear whether Moark has sold its lease or had purchased the farms outright.
Prior to the acquisition, Hillandale Farms had around 9.0 million hens and was the seventh largest U.S. egg producer in the February 2015 Egg Industry magazine Top Egg Company survey.
Moark is the layer division of Land O'Lakes Cooperative. Entering 2015, Moark had sold its Midwest and Western operations and had 6.5 million hens housed at its remaining farms in Maine and Connecticut. Industry sources report that in addition to Moark's farms in Maine, Hillandale also purchased Moark's Borzah, Conneticutt operations.
This transaction completes Land O'Lakes planned exit from the layer industry. The cooperative had announced its intention to leave the layer industry in 2013 and had been seeking a buyer since that time.
When this acquisition is completed, Hillandale Farms will certainly move up into the top five egg producers based on the number of layers housed.

Ex-Quality Egg worker gets probation in Salmonella case

A former Quality Egg LLC employee who was involved in a 2010 interstate Salmonella outbreak that caused as many as 56,000 people to become ill has been sentenced to four years of probation.
Tony Wasmund, who in 2012 pleaded guilty to his role in bribing a USDA inspector to allow sales of eggs that didn’t meet federal standards, was able to avoid jail time because he cooperated with investigators and provided “substantial assistance” in the case, according to a KDLT report. Wasmund was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Mark Bennett.
Another Quality Egg employee had also allegedly tried to bribe USDA inspectors, but that person is now deceased.
The 2010 Salmonella outbreak also led to the recall of 550 million eggs.
Two of Quality Egg’s top executives, Austin “Jack” DeCoster, and his son, Peter DeCoster in April were sentenced to three months in jail after being found guilty of misdemeanor charges of introducing adulterated food into interstate commerce. They also were both fined $100,000 and Quality Egg paid a fine of $6.8 million.
Those sentences came despite urgings from the DeCosters’ attorney, who stated he did not feel his clients deserved jail time, as federal prosecutors said they had found no evidence that the father and son were aware the company was selling tainted products. 

Ex-manager fined for willfully mislabeling chicken

A former Canadian poultry processing manager has been fined CA$12,000 (US$9,908) after being found guilty on three counts of unlawfully labeling chicken products as turkey products with the intent of shipping the products overseas.
Bruce Steven Arabsky, a former general manager of Superior Poultry Processors Ltd., in Coquitlam, British Columbia was sentenced on April 30 to pay the fine after being convicted in December for the incidents that violated Canada’s Food and Drugs Act, according to a report from The Province. The case is 2014 BCSC 2547, Regina v. Bruce Steven Arabsky.
In 2010, Arabsky instructed an employee to prepare chicken drumsticks for export to Afghanistan and label the boxes they were placed in as turkey. This happened multiple times over a period spanning several weeks, according to a court document. Arabsky’s signature was on the export application verification forms that stated that the meat was turkey.
The Food and Drugs Act violation was discovered after a Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) inspection manager received an anonymous letter. A CFIA inspector investigated the allegations and found chicken in numerous boxes in three shipping containers labeled as turkey. The containers' contents were subsequently re-labeled as chicken and sent to Afghanistan with the proper labels in place.
Arabsky’s employment with Superior Poultry Processors has been terminated.
Arabsky has alleged he was following the instructions of the company’s owners when the poultry parts were mislabeled. Arabsky’s attorney has stated that the conviction and sentence will be appealed.

DeCosters get 3-month jail sentences in Salmonella case

Former Quality Egg LLC executives Jack DeCoster and Peter DeCoster have been given jail sentences in a case that tied Quality Egg to a multi-state Salmonella outbreak. 
Former egg industry executives Austin “Jack” DeCoster and Peter DeCoster have been sentenced to serve three months in jail after being found guilty on charges related to a multi-state Salmonella outbreak that occurred in 2010. The two men were sentenced April 13 in federal court in Sioux City, Iowa, on misdemeanor charges of introducing adulterated food into interstate commerce.
Both Jack DeCoster, and his son Peter, remain free as they appeal their sentences, the Associated Press reported.
The conviction comes after a lengthy judicial process that followed a nationwide Salmonella outbreak that was traced back to the DeCosters’ former company, Quality Egg LLC. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) linked 1,939 illnesses to the Salmonella outbreak, but officials have argued that many more -- as many as 56,000 people -- may have become ill after the eggs entered commerce.
The Salmonella outbreak also led to the recall of more than 550 million eggs.
The two pleaded guilty on June 3, 2014 to the charges. The DeCosters’ attorney had argued that the former egg executives should only pay a fine and did not deserve jail time, as federal prosecutors said they had found no evidence that the DeCosters were aware they were selling tainted products. However, as corporate officers, the father and son could still be held legally responsible.
Both men were also fined $100,000, and Quality Egg paid a fine of $6.8 million.

Widow sues Hallmark Poultry, calling company negligent

Canada’s Hallmark Poultry Processors Ltd. is being sued by the widow of an employee who died of heart failure after allegedly working a 13-hour shift at a company plant in Vancouver, British Columbia. The woman is accusing Hallmark Poultry Processors of negligence and claims the company did not comply with provincial employment standards.
The civil claim has been filed in the Supreme Court of British Columbia on behalf of Bao Min Cheng’s wife, Mei Juan Lin, and their four children. Cheng died from heart failure on March 22, 2013, according to a CBC report.
Cheng, who did not speak English and had little education, immigrated to Canada in the early 2000s from China. Both he and his wife became Canadian citizens and all four of their children were born in Canada. Since his death, the family has been forced to survive on death benefits paid by the Canada pension plan, welfare and other government subsidies, the suit claims.
"I can say that Bao Min Cheng's death was a terrible event for his wife and their four young children and they have suffered a great deal of hardship as a result," said Matthew Jackson, an attorney who is representing the family.
Cheng had worked for Hallmark for seven years, according to the suit, which also described the work he did -- lifting chicken carcasses from a conveyor belt to hooks above head level in a refrigerated environment  -- as "repetitive and strenuous labor." 
The lawsuit claims says that Cheng did have a pre-existing heart condition, which caused him to have high blood pressure and required management with medication. The suit also asserts that Hallmark owes its workers a "standard of care ... to ensure that their working conditions are safe and that the nature of the work required and the amount of time spent doing the required work does not place its employees in risk of harm or death."

Farm Bureau files brief in Proposition 2 case

The American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) believes a California law that regulates agricultural production in other states is unconstitutional for multiple reasons, and a lower court ruling that barred other states from bringing suit against California on behalf of their citizens should be reversed.
In a friend-of-the-court brief filed March 11 in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (State of Missouri, et al. v. Harris, et al.), AFBF urged the court to find that six states have standing to challenge California’s egg law.
A federal district court in California dismissed a lawsuit brought by officials from Missouri, Alabama, Iowa, Kentucky, Nebraska and Oklahoma on behalf of their citizens in October 2014, months before a new California law imposed hen cage size restrictions on any shell eggs sold in the state, including those produced out-of-state. California’s legislature enacted the law to protect California egg producers from a competitive disadvantage resulting from the Proposition 2 ballot initiative that imposed cage size restrictions on California egg producers.
“It is unfortunate that California’s voters put egg producers in their state at a clear competitive disadvantage, and we sympathize with the California farmers who will bear the brunt of that action,” said AFBF President Bob Stallman. “Freedom from unreasonable restrictions on interstate commerce, however, is a hallmark of our nation and the federalist system of government established in the U.S. Constitution. Without a legitimate health or safety justification, the California Legislature simply does not have the authority to regulate how eggs are produced in other states. A foreign trading partner attempting this kind of trade-barring action would cause an outcry all across the world trade arena.”
The California law presents out-of-state egg producers with an untenable situation and, because all “consumers will suffer,” the states of Alabama, Iowa, Kentucky, Missouri, Nebraska and Oklahoma should be allowed to file suit against California on behalf of all their citizens, AFBF said. According to AFBF’s brief, the law would have detrimental effects on the national egg market, since California accounts for one in every eight eggs sold in the U.S.
As for out-of-state egg producers, they “are placed between a rock and a hard place,” deciding whether to opt out of that sizeable market, or comply by incurring enormous capital costs associated with installing cage systems required by California law. The Congressional Research Service estimates compliance costs between $25 and $30 per hen. For a medium-sized farm with 300,000 hens, costs would be between $8 million and $9 million.
“It is more than sufficient to establish … standing to allege that one state has enacted a law that threatens broad-based harm to an entire industry within another state,” according to AFBF’s brief.  “The injury to each state’s egg-consuming public assuredly is enough (to warrant the suit against California),” according to AFBF. “The claim is straight-forward: By playing with the levers of the national supply of shell eggs, California’s legislation is likely to drive up the cost of eggs for consumers within the plaintiff states.”

Willamette Egg Farms sues installer over dead hens

Willamette Egg Farms has filed a lawsuit against a company that installed a controller that allegedly malfunctioned and caused the deaths of about 100,000 hens.
According to a suit filed by Willamette Egg Farms, an alarm system failed during an electrical malfunction at a brooder house in Moses Lake, Washington. The malfunction caused ventilation fans to stop working, allegedly asphyxiating the hens, according to a report from the Capital Press.
The suit in federal court seeks $500,000 from Spectrum Communications, the installer of the controller. Spectrum Communications is also located in Moses Lake.
The lawsuit further contends that the controller installed by Spectrum failed to signal an alarm for more than three hours, and the chickens died in abnormally high heat.
The complaint alleges that Spectrum Communications is liable for negligence and breach of contract because it installed a control system that failed to set off an alarm when the ventilation system stopped operating.
Willamette Egg Farms is headquartered in Canby, Oregon. The company provides the Pacific Northwest with eggs and egg products, including cage-free, organic, omega-3 and conventional, according to the WATT Global Media Top Companies Database. Willamette doubled its cage-free production in 2013 to increase its cage-free production to 8 percent of company sales.
U.S. District Judge Thomas Rice in Spokane, Washington, is presiding over the lawsuit, which was filed in the Eastern District of Washington.

Proposed layer farm opponents sue county, Sonstegard Foods

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  Freeimages.com/srbichara

  Opponents of a proposed Sonstegard Foods layer farm in Turner County, S.D., are suing the company the county.

  From WATTAgNet:
  A group of homeowners is suing South Dakota’s Turner County Commission and Sonstegard Foods, the owners of a proposed layer farm, in hopes of keeping the company from building the operation near the city of Parker.
  Sonstegard Foods, parent company of Sunrise Farms, hopes to build an $85 million farm, which when fully realized, would house 6 million hens.
  The plaintiffs claim the commission used a fax from the Sonstegard Foods to re-write the county's zoning ordinance without public input. In doing so, the commission made it possible to locate the operation less than three miles from Parker city limits.
  Michael Schaffer, who represents three couples opposed to the Sonstegard Foods facility, in the lawsuit asks a judge to declare the ordinance null and void, which he says would nullify any building permit the county issues.
  The county's lawyer, Matt Olson, says the commission didn't break any rules. State law was followed in the 2014 zoning ordinance rewrite, and Sonstegard Foods' proposal could be eligible for permits at its current location under the old or new version of the ordinance regardless, OIson said.
  At issue is a last-minute tweak to the way animal units are calculated in permits for concentrated animal feeding operations. Turner County's planning and zoning board met several times in 2014 to rework its 2008 rules. The changes were designed to make livestock permitting easier, Olson said.
  Under the old ordinance – which was approved by the zoning board and sent to the county commission for approval - each chicken in a liquid manure system counted as .01 animal units. Under that factor, Sonstegard's operation would be equal to a 60,000 beef cattle operation and need to be 5.4 miles from any city.
  In Moody County and in the entire state of Minnesota, chickens in a dry manure barn are calculated with a different factor: .003 animal units. Under those calculations, Sonstegard has an 18,000 animal operation. That can be placed less than 2.5 miles from a city.
  Peter Sonstegard, vice president for sales of Sonstegard Foods, sent a fax with Moody County's animal unit rules to the county commission after its September 9 first reading of the new zoning ordinance, Argus Leader reported. That fax showed up on the commissioners' table at the second reading of the zoning ordinance in September 2014, the lawsuit claims, and the new rules were added and approved without further public notice of the specific change.
  That fax should have been available for public viewing, Schaffer said, and the zoning ordinance should have gone back to the zoning board before the county commission approved it. Because that process wasn't followed, Schaffer said, and because "there are serious questions" about how much access there was to the zoning ordinance for public review, the suit says the zoning ordinance is invalid.
  However, the county commission has the authority to make changes to a zoning ordinance between a first and second reading, Olson said, and it can do so by considering any public input. Also, Olson said the zoning ordinance was changed several times during the yearlong revision process, and all of the revisions were available for public review at the planning office in the courthouse, he said.
  At a recent meeting with the zoning board, planning commissioners and Olson told the plaintiffs that Sonstegard had no hand in drafting the 2014 ordinance.
  The company and county commissioners have 30 days to respond to the lawsuit. Sonstegard Foods has applied for a conditional permit, but a hearing on the matter has yet to be scheduled.

Court favors EPA in farmer privacy lawsuit

A federal district court in Minnesota on January 27 dismissed a lawsuit seeking to block the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from releasing the personal information -- such as a person’s name, home address, GPS location and telephone number -- of livestock and poultry farmers and ranchers in response to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests.
The court concluded that no federally permitted livestock or poultry farmer is injured by such disclosure because the Clean Water Act mandates disclosure of information concerning permit issuance. For livestock and poultry farmers without a Clean Water Act permit, the court concluded that so long as the farmer’s personal information can be found somewhere on the Internet, EPA’s distribution of that same information does not result in any injury to the farmer. The court noted that a farmer with a public Facebook page used to promote the farm, or whose information could be found via search engine or any state regulatory website in any form, has no right to sue to stop the federal government from compiling and distributing that information.
“Farmers, ranchers and citizens in general should be concerned about the court’s disregard for individual privacy,” said Bob Stallman, president of the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF). “This court seems to believe that the Internet age has eliminated the individual’s interest in controlling the distribution of his or her personal information. We strongly disagree.”
The plaintiffs in the case, the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) and AFBF have 60 days to appeal the decision.
Prior to the suit, EPA had already released personal information of farmers and ranchers from 29 states. AFBF filed suit to block further disclosures regarding farmers and ranchers in Minnesota, California, Idaho, Nevada, Oklahoma and Washington.

USPOULTRY files brief supporting Rose Acre Farms’ lawsuit

U.S. Poultry & Egg Association (USPOULTRY) has filed a “Friend of the Court” brief in the United States District Court located in North Carolina, supporting a Motion for Summary Judgment submitted by Rose Acre Farms. The brief asked the court to reaffirm that any stormwater that incidentally contacts dust and feathers from poultry houses via ventilation fans and deposited on the ground constitutes agricultural stormwater expressly exempt from National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Permit permitting requirements under the Clean Water Act (CWA).
Rose Acre Farms submitted the motion for summary judgment following notification by the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources (NCDENR) that Rose Acre Farms was required to obtain a NPDES permit. This notification came even though the plain language of the statute, supported by previous court cases, states that agricultural stormwater is not a point source discharge requiring a NPDES permit.
“Despite an earlier federal court decision that ruled stormwater draining from the areas surrounding poultry production houses is agricultural stormwater runoff, North Carolina and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), through their support of NCDENR in this case, are trying to deny Rose Acre Farms of the exemption clearly outlined in the Clean Water Act. USPOULTRY filed the ‘friend of the court’ brief to make the court aware of the magnitude and far reaching implications this case holds for every poultry and egg producer in the U. S.,” remarked John Starkey, president of USPOULTRY.

DeCosters scheduled for February sentencing in Salmonella case

Former egg industry executive Austin “Jack” DeCoster and son Peter DeCoster are scheduled to be sentenced in February 2015 for their involvement in a multistate Salmonella outbreak that was traced to the DeCosters’ former company, Quality Egg LLC. The two pleaded guilty on June 3 to misdemeanor charges of introducing adulterated food into interstate commerce.
The sentencing hearings are set to begin on February 9 at a courtroom in Sioux City, Iowa. The hearings could last as long as five days, according to a report in The State.
The charges stem from when Quality Egg sold eggs that caused thousands of people to become ill during the 2010 Salmonella outbreak. The outbreak also led to the recall of 550 million eggs.
The DeCosters could face up to one year in jail, but their attorney has argued that the two do not deserve jail time and should simply pay a fine and serve probation. Federal prosecutors said they found no evidence that the DeCosters were aware they were selling tainted products, but that as corporate officers, they can be held legally responsible.
Quality Egg also faces a fine after pleading guilty to bribing a federal inspector, selling misbranded food and introducing adulterated food into interstate commerce.

Save Farm Families video highlights Hudson legal battle

A documentary video called “Collateral Damage: Farm Families” that chronicles the Waterkeeper Alliance’s lawsuit against Perdue Farms and contract growers Alan and Kristin Hudson. The video is presented by Save Farm Families and can be seen online.
According to Save Farm Families, the video “reviews the questionable political and academic actions that enabled the New York-based Waterkeeper Alliance to push forward with its lawsuit against the Hudson family, and the continuing threat that environmental extremists pose to family farmers, not just in Maryland, but across the nation.”
The Hudsons, who farm near Maryland’s Eastern Shore, were targeted by environmental group the Waterkeeper Alliance and its local affiliate, Assateague Coastal Trust, when the group in 2009 decided to challenge the poultry industry and its potential impact on water quality.
When the Waterkeeper Alliance conducted flyovers of area farms and saw what it believed to be a large pile of chicken manure on the Hudsons’ property. However, what they actually saw was not poultry manure. The environmental group proceeded with the case anyway.
The plaintiffs in the suit were represented by the University of Maryland Environmental Law Clinic.
After nearly three years of litigation, the judge ruled against the Waterkeeper Alliance, chastising the organization for not conducting adequate research. He also criticized the university’s law clinic. Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley was equally bothered by the university law clinic’s handling of the case, calling it a “misuse of state resources.”
While the Hudsons won the suit, they still had legal expenses to pay. Those expenses were covered by efforts from area farmers and organizations, including Save Farm Families.

Rose Acre’s lawsuit ground zero for the dust and feathers issue

The U.S. EPA and environmental groups have declined to appeal the Alt case, in which a federal district court judge ruled that feathers and other air emissions from a poultry house do not become a point source discharge when they fall to the ground and mix with rainwater, as EPA had contended.
Thomas Hebert, agricultural and environmental consultant, Bayard Ridge Group, told the audience at the United Egg Producers’ annual convention in Albuquerque, New Mexico, that the ruling wasn’t appealed, because the EPA and environmental groups hope to limit the effect of the decision just to that district court’s jurisdiction.
The North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources (NCDENR) has attempted to use the same dust and feathers emissions strategy to compel Rose Acre Farms to take extraordinary measures to restrict ammonia emissions from its Hyde County, North Carolina, layer houses. Rose Acre Farms’ has brought a lawsuit in Federal District Court for Eastern North Carolina asking the court to block NCDENR from requiring a Clean Water Act National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit for dust and feathers and other materials exhausted in the air from the layer houses.
Hebert said U.S. EPA wants to intervene in the Rose Acre case to keep it in state court and out of federal court. Hebert said, “The Rose Acre Farms lawsuit is now ground zero for the dust and feathers issue.”
Rose Acre Farms wants to keep the case in federal court and is also seeking a summary judgment. Farm Bureau and the United Egg Producers have joined Rose Acre Farms in this case. Hebert said that the fact that EPA wants to keep the case out of federal court is a sign that the agency isn’t optimistic about the outcome of the case and wants to prevent setting precedent against their dust and feathers as an emission position in another federal district court.

Ex-New Zealand egg producer sentenced for falsely labeling eggs

John Garnett, a former egg producer from Whangarei, New Zealand, has been sentenced to 12 months home detention and 200 hours of community service after being found guilty of falsely labeling cage-raised eggs as free-range eggs. The court decision was applauded by the Egg Producers Federation of New Zealand, which represents free-range, barn, colony and conventional cage egg farmers in New Zealand.
By falsely labeling the eggs, Garnett, owner of the now defunct Forest Hill Farm, was able to earn more money on the sale of the eggs at the expense of the consumers. Free-range eggs, because of the higher cost of production, demand a significantly higher premium.
An estimated 206,000 dozen eggs were falsely labeled between April 2010 and November 2011 and were sold to 38 retailers that did not suspect they were cage-raised eggs, the New Zealand Herald reported.
Egg Producers Federation Executive Director Michael Brooks said the industry had initiated the action which resulted in prosecution by the Commerce Commission and would not hesitate to act in the interests of consumers in the future.
“The industry identified the problem and ensured the information was relayed to the Commerce Commission and we supported the commission’s proactive steps to undertake a prosecution. This was a serious breach of consumer trust and industry integrity,” said Brooks.
“We have also taken steps to ensure more stringent traceability processes, enforced by MPI, are in place to prevent this type of dishonest behavior in the future. “Mr. Garnett is no longer farming and has not been involved in the poultry industry for two years.”

Prestage court hearing postponed in gun case

A preliminary hearing for Ronald William Prestage that was originally scheduled for August 13 was postponed until September 10. Prestage, 59, the president of Prestage Farms of South Carolina and president-elect of National Pork Producers Council, was arrested July 23 on suspicion of trying to enter the Cannon House Office Building in Washington, D.C., with a loaded firearm.
The pork and turkey company executive was charged with carrying a pistol outside his home or business, which is a felony in Washington, D.C. He has pleaded not guilty to the charge.
Court documents state the prosecution and the defense are continuing their negotiations, according to a Roll Call blog, suggesting a possible plea bargain.
Prestage holds a concealed-carry permit in his home state of South Carolina, but concealed-carry permits are not issued in Washington, D.C., and open carry there is prohibited.
Prestage was searched as a matter of routine as he entered the federal building, and an officer allegedly found a loaded 9-millimeter Ruger handgun in his bag. Prestage was believed to have been on his way to meet with members of South Carolina’s congressional delegation.
Prestage Farms has pork and turkey operations in North Carolina, South Carolina, Iowa, Oklahoma and Mississippi.

Ruling favoring Allen Harim appealed by environmental groups

Environmental groups are continuing their fight against poultry producer Allen Harim Foods, which wants to convert a former Vlasic pickle plant in Millsboro, Delaware, into a poultry processing complex. Protecting Our Indian River and the Inland Bays Foundations have asked Delaware Superior Court to overturn the Delaware Environmental Appeals Board’s (DEAB) May ruling that favored Allen Harim Foods.
Groups find fault in Delaware Environmental Appeals Board decision
On May 13, DEAB unanimously denied a challenge to the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control’s approval of the poultry processor’s plans. Environmental and local neighborhood groups -- including Protecting Our Indian River and the Inland Bays Foundations -- had challenged the plans, citing worries that a chicken processing plant would cause further pollution to area land and water. In a written opinion released on June 24, the DEAB stated that some of the pollution cited by opponents of Allen Harim’s plans likely came from their own neighborhoods.
According to Delaware Online, the environmental groups called the earlier decision "arbitrary" and "an abuse of discretion." The groups argued that the poultry processor’s plans fail to comply with state pollution control regulations.
Allen Harim plans to process small birds for ginseng stew
Allen Harim Foods hopes to employ as many as 700 people at the complex, where it plans to process a smaller breed of chickens used in a ginseng stew popular in Asia, the company has stated.
Another legal challenge pending
The latest challenge to Allen Harim is not the only related suit to be considered by Delaware Superior Court. The court is also looking at a case that challenges the Sussex County Board of Adjustment’s approval for the potential Allen Harim complex.

Sparboe Farms' egg pricing legal battle settled

A six-year legal battle involving a group of grocery chains and food vendors accusing egg producer Sparboe Farms of taking part in a scheme to hike prices on eggs has ended. The group of vendors has dropped its claims against the egg producer, while Sparboe Farms has dropped its claims that it was subjected to unwarranted boycotts.
U.S. District Judge Gene Pratter on June 18 signed off on the case. It is not known whether any money was exchanged between the two parties to get the litigation dropped, but both parties have agreed to pay their own legal fees and court costs.
With the legal allegations in the past, Sparboe, through its attorney, has reaffirmed that it did nothing illegal or immoral.
“Sparboe disagrees with the viability of plaintiffs' claims against Sparboe, denies any liability to plaintiffs and denies that it engaged in any improper or illegal conduct," Troy Hutchinson, an attorney representing Sparboe Farms, told Law360. "Sparboe is pleased to put the litigation behind it."
Companies involved in the litigation against Sparboe Farms included Safeway, SuperValu, Kroger, Hy-Vee, Albertson's, The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co., H.E. Butt Grocery Co., Conopco., Giant Eagle Inc., Publix, Winn-Dixie, Roundy's Supermarkets, H.J. Heinz Co., C&S Wholesale Grocers, Kraft Foods Global, General Mills, Nestle USA, Kellogg Co. and Walgreen Co.