The pork industry is asking the Supreme Court to strike down a voter-approved law in California that would ban the sale of pork in the state from hogs raised anywhere in the world that fail to meet the state’s production standard requiring that each sow be given a specific amount of space, which exceeds industry norms.
California officials are drafting implementing regulations for the law, which supporters promoted as an animal welfare measure, that will take effect Jan. 1, 2022. To continue selling pork to the 40 million consumers who live in the state, which represents about 15 percent of the U.S. pork market, pork producers would have to switch to new sow housing systems at a cost in the billions of dollars, new expenses that will be borne by consumers through increased pork prices, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation.
