BrownfieldAgNews reports:
The U.S. Justice Department says California’s egg regulations violate the Constitution and have contributed to higher egg prices.
The lawsuit claims state laws oppose the Egg Products Inspection Act, and points to Proposition 12’s cage-free standards as a violation of the Supremacy Clause.
Plaintiffs say within two years of the laws going into effect, the average price paid per dozen eggs was about 20 percent higher than it would have been without the regulations.
Ag Secretary Brooke Rollins says it is one thing if California passes laws that affect its own State, it is another when those laws affect other States in violation of the U.S. Constitution.
In a statement to Brownfield, the American Egg Board says farmers have been both responsive and responsible in meeting changing demand for cage-free eggs, while supporting all types of egg production. The organization says they will continue to comply with the state’s laws while monitoring the case.
Humane World for Animals and Humane World Action Fund, formerly called Humane Society of the United States and Humane Society Legislative Fund, say California has prohibited the sale of the eggs for more than a decade, and more than 45 percent of the U.S. egg industry is already cage-free.
