Supreme Court upholds California law that will probably increase the price of pork
 

The US Supreme Court just upheld a California law which requires that any pork sold in California has to come from pigs whose mothers were raised with at least 24 square feet of space, with the ability to lie down and turn around - even if the pork comes from another state.

This will be a nightmare for the pork industry since the vast majority of pork farmers' practices do not conform to the California law. Either they won't be able to sell pork in California, or if they do comply with the law, pork prices should increase for the rest of the country. Stock up on bacon now!

Supreme Court rejects challenge to California pork law mandating more space for pigs

California has a lot of laws that other states don't follow. Why would pork farmers change their practices just so they can sell pork in California?

Almost anything California passes I think is ridiculous. And I am not a huge animal person. But requiring a 4x6 pen for a pig where she can lay down does not seem extreme. If the industry does not provide that now, then shame on them, not shame on California for passing the law. That is one law that I would be willing to pay more for. Yes it is "just an animal," but cruelty is still cruelty.

Is bacon legal in California?

Just how is the California state government going to insure that pork producers in Arkansas or Iowa are following their law? Do any of these mental midgets realize how many farms raise hogs across this country? How about pork imported from another country? There is no way they have enough inspectors to inspect every place hogs are raised to guarantee compliance. An inspector from California would have no authority to access a pork producer in any state outside of California. Just mental pablum for gullible minds.

I agree. Enforcement will be a nightmare. Once the hogs get to the slaughterhouse and are killed, it will be extremely difficult to follow the product from that point through processing to packaging to the grocery store.

Bingo.

There are already trucking companies who will not run in Calif.

The OP is a non-event.

Guess we cannot ask the pig if he was given enough room.:bigbow:

Who cares? How much of pork sold in Florida comes from California? Bet < 1%.

You think only CA will raise their pork prices due to increased production costs?

I normally agree with what you say, so looking for clarification. The OP was that SCOTUS upheld the california law banning sale of pork in their state under those conditions. All california has to do is ask for some sort of certification and it will be up to the seller to prove. (I am surmising). So it seems like a big event that the law was upheld.

Sayonara
 

wish it was further away

Glad I don't live in such a crazy state. LA now wants civilians to make traffic stops. This will end well.

California is the largest state in the nation. Along with bacon, pork products include hams, sausages, pork chops, and hot dogs. It will be hard for companies who make these products, like Oscar Mayer, to decide to forgo doing business in California.

If Oscar Mayer chooses to meet the California standards then either they will need to pass the new requirements along to all of their pork farmers or they will need to create separate processing lines and sources for products sold in California. Either way it will be an increased cost of doing business for the company that will likely be passed along to us all.

24 square feet. 4’ x 6’. How much room do the growers provide now? It’s interesting that the Republican majority on the Supreme Court sided with the State of California on this, but President Biden’s office urged the Supreme Court to side with the pork producers! I think the pork producers should agree among themselves to not comply and see how the people in California react when their stores can find almost no pork products to sell. Let people eat turkey bacon and beef hotdogs.

14 to 20 square feet

Our duty to care for animals
 

Instead of focusing on the possible increased cost of pork why not applaud this ruling that sees the importance of humane housing for breeding sows. This is an effort to reduce horrific and continuous cruelty

Currently the sides of the enclosure are so close to her body that she can’t even turn around. This ruling increases the area where she lives for her entire life so she can turn around and easily lie down. Small ask. Perhaps the industry will recognize the importance of this modification if they want to sell pork in California

Having been born and raised in Iowa, the pork capital of the world, I have never seen hogs kept in confined spaces, except when farrowing. And that was just to protect the piglets until they were weaned and able to fend for themselves. Otherwise they were kept in large pens with plenty of room to roam. I think this is just something dreamed up by the wacko California legislature whose members' closest proximity to hog farming was buying bacon at the grocery store.

The problem is that it sets a precedent and opens the door for the largest states to dictate the laws and regulations for consumers and businesses in the rest of America.

If California passed a law that no product could be sold in the state unless the out of state manufacturer paid $22 an hour to his employees, it would be chaos. Or if they banned cars from any manufacturer who didn’t manufacture at least 50% of their cars as electrical vehicles.

I don’t care what laws California passes for California residents but I object when they try to control the behavior of out of state people.

I think your post is very reasonsed and brings up very valid concerns. From the article:

"Gorsuch said the pork producers challenging the law were asking the justices to “fashion two new and more aggressive constitutional restrictions on the ability of States to regulate goods sold within their borders.” The justices declined.


During arguments in the case in October, liberal and conservative justices underscored the potential reach of the case. Some worried whether greenlighting the animal cruelty law would give state legislators a license to pass laws targeting practices they disapprove of, such as a law that says a product cannot be sold in the state if workers who made it are not vaccinated or are not in the country legally. They also worried about the reverse: How many state laws would be called into question if California's law were not permitted?"

I think this is a very complex issue, and since the California law was upheld, I think we will get a chance to see how things play out.

Maybe the pork producers just stop selling in California. Yes it is a very large state and that would hurt sales significantly. But when no one sells to California, maybe California rethinks their positions. I also think California has a huge burden to enforce the law. All a pork producer would need to do is set up 1 pen of required size. Then it seems like it would be up to california to prove that any package of pork was not from a pig whose mother was kept in that pen. Seems like a steep climb.

All that being said, I agree with your concerns on what new laws by one state that affects another can have. And I believe Californial is a liberal pig sty itself. But I do think keeping a pig in a pen where it cannot even turn around is cruel.

I don’t think so. :pepper2:

There is no constitutional right for you to sell pork in California. California has a right (just like any other state) to pass the laws they see fit for their state. If you don't want to comply, then you don't sell to California residents. Not that complicated.

As far as enforcement, California can simply observe through video cameras.

Again, if you don't like it, then don't do business with California.

It's a free country people.

...so, another state can pass a law that pigs need to be confined in small cages?

This law was passed years ago and only takes effect now. Pork producers had plenty of time to adjust. Don't forget that swine flu came from Mexico. It developed on a pig farm that had moved from South Carolina because the owner didn't want to meet federal EPA requirements.

While some posters here are readily criticizing California, it might be best to have a small bite of humble pie.

Before the Florida Constitution was revised, voters in the state by popular vote amended the Florida Constitution (not just a law..but part of our Constitution) to protect pregnant pigs! The amendment occured in the last 30 years or so!

Perhaps one should strongly consider the old adage that people in glass houses should not throw stones!

Too bad for pork producers. I have no sympathy for an industry that hires child/under age workers and didn't protect their employees during the pandemic. The heart associations says you shouldn't be eating pork anyway - not healthy for your heart!

I remembered reading about this in a WSJ editorial last year, so I went back to find it. From the article:

California voters in 2018 approved a ballot initiative that established minimum confinement standards for farm animals sold as meat in the state. The law effectively requires that adult female pigs be housed in large group pens even though nearly all hog farmers keep them in individual pens, in part to prevent disease from spreading.

And for those who think this won't affect the rest of the nation, I give you California's requirement for different gasoline blends that make refining less efficient, thus raising the price of gasoline for all of us.

If you want to read the entire WSJ article, here is the link. If you have a library card, at least in Sumter county, you have free access if you go through their website and register for online services:

California Tries to Regulate 50 States - WSJ

So miss informed.
Child workers.............:1rotfl::1rotfl::1rotfl:
Healthy...............lean pork is as part of any healthy diet.

R U a chicken farmer by chance. :1rotfl::1rotfl::1rotfl:

Yes.

Then the pork producer would have to make a decision to which state it would like to sell to.

We are 50 individual states. And there are conflicting laws between states often. Welcome to America.

How do they raise them? In a stall they can never walk or lay down? That's etremly cruel, I'd pay more not to be crual.

Well… If what you're saying is correct Iowa should be in compliance with the standard and have nothing to worry about correct?:mornincoffee:

California will be passing a law which requires pigs to fly into the state rather than being transported by truck.

:mornincoffee:

States rights!!!!! :crap2:

And you should have the right to make that choice while I choose otherwise.

The California law is making the choice for everyone in the state - no one can choose otherwise. But that's what the majority of the California voters in 2018 wanted.

The issue is that with the industry being the way it is, this California law *might* end up making the choice for everyone in the nation. I am sure *I* did not have a say in that 2018 California law.

The California law cannot make the choice for everyone. (Trust me, I am not a California defender at all.) Businesses who do business in CA may make a change to their entire production model in order to sell in CA, or they may change just the production line that sells to CA, or they may choose to not sell in CA. Producers have every right to do whatever they want and sell to you in FL. The CA law does not control that. How businesses choose to respond to the CA law may affect you (in FL), but CA does not bear the responsibility for that. The businesses do.

And only if they fly with renewable energy and do not emit any gasses.

Another idiotic rule or law coming out of California. Lived there on tow occasions when things were still half-way sane, but how anyone could keep living there now is beyond me.

Thanks for posting. I had to look up the term farrowing (although I kind of guessed what it meant). When I did, it took me to a site with videos of birthing and piglets suckling after birth. I have to say the tight quarters, for the intent of keeping the piglets from being squashed did not look cruel. I wish I had seen these before I commented on the cruelty. I wonder if this was shown to the voters before hand, or if there reaction was based on ignorance like mine was.

Will giving them the 24 sq ft room as required actually result in the death of many piglets? After looking, it appears so to me.

Normally, I disagree with about 90% of laws that California passes. However, I grew up on a farm and am in total agreement with the standards in this law. Current practices in the hog farming (and turkey farming) industry are absolutely cruel. Have a little empathy for these poor animals that feed you and don't accept cruelty just to save a buck.

I believe that is what I wrote.

Ah yes, the businesses can choose to not do business in the largest state in the nation. Or, the businesses can choose to set up parallel sources and production lines for their products that will be shipped to California. Or, businesses can recognize that to stay in business they need to remain in the California market and the only way to do that is to change their sourcing which will affect all their products whether they are shipped to California or not. Really not much of a choice for the businesses.