Meat trade groups plan appeal after losing bid to delay COOL rule
A coalition of U.S. and Canadian meat industry groups lost a bid in federal court to temporarily block enforcement of U.S. country-of-origin labeling rules. The groups had argued that the COOL rules violate the U.S. Constitution by compelling speech in the form of costly and detailed labels on meat products that will confuse consumers and raise prices. U.S. District Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson in Washington disagreed in a ruling, Bloomberg News reports.
“It is well established that, when the compelled speech is commercial and purely factual in nature, the speaker’s First Amendment rights are not unduly burdened ‘as long as the disclosure requirements are reasonably related to the government’s interest in preventing deception to consumers,’” Jackson said in the decision.