Indiana To Fight Another Food Production Law

Indiana is leading 13 states in a lawsuit against Massachusetts over new food regulations. The law requires eggs, pork and veal sold in the Bay State to come from animals raised with room to lie down and turn around without touching an enclosure — it’s the second such lawsuit involving Indiana that’s been filed in the last two weeks.

Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill says the Massachusetts law — scheduled to go into effect in 2022 — will cost farmers and raise consumer prices.

The lawsuit doesn’t say how much of Indiana’s livestock exports go to Massachusetts. But it cites a Purdue University research program that sells livestock to national meat distributors who resell the products to retailers, “some of whom are presumably located in Massachusetts.”

Last week, Indiana joined a similar but separate multi-state lawsuit over a California law that requires eggs sold there to come from cage-free hens.

A spokesperson for Hill says the priority with these cases is “the rightful authority of the individual states” and it’s merely a coincidence that both involve animal husbandry.

Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, West Virginia and Wisconsin joined Indiana in the lawsuit filed with the U.S. Supreme Court.