ALEX MACLEAN: ‘A Bay Area animal-rights group that’s suing Diestel Turkey Ranch can’t challenge the Sonora-based farm’s use of certain claims on product labels because they were pre-approved by the U.S. Department of Food and Agriculture, according to a ruling earlier this month by Alameda County Superior Court Ioana Petrou… The group plans to continue pressing forward with the lawsuit over the company’s claims on its website and other marketing materials that are not approved by the USDA…
Direct Action Everywhere, also known as DxE, filed the lawsuit against Diestel Turkey Ranch in January 2017 after releasing a report just before Thanksgiving in 2015 that chronicled a yearlong investigation of the family-owned company’s farming practices. The report alleged that Diestel turkeys bearing labels such as “range grown” and “thoughtfully raised” that are sold at Whole Foods and other high-end grocery stores in California are actually raised in dark, cramped pens in Jamestown…
Petrou’s final ruling… on a demurrer filed by Diestel Turkey Ranch is essentially a complete reversal from her tentative ruling issued less than a week earlier that stated the false-advertising lawsuit could move forward because Federal Poultry Products Inspection Act didn’t preempt state consumer-protection laws. “Once the USDA has reviewed and approved product labels, any claim that labels as approved are false or misleading is preempted by the PPIA,” Petrou wrote in her final ruling, citing a 2017 lawsuit against Campbell Soup Co.’ SOURCE…
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