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Triumph Foods pushes back on state-level ag laws

Missouri-based Triumph Foods has become the first pork processor to file a lawsuit against California’s Proposition 12, a law that mandates specific minimum housing standards for pigs, veal calves, and egg-laying hens. 

Matt England, president and CEO of Triumph Foods, says the national food supply chain relies on consistent federal regulation, not one that operates with a patchwork of state requirements.

According to a release, Triumph’s lawsuit builds on its approach to Massachusetts’ Question 3, where the company was successful in its fight to strike down part of that state law for violations of the dormant Commerce Clause, which also exists in the California law.  The Dormant Commerce Clause is a legal principle that prevents states from passing laws that unfairly limit or discriminate against business between states.  It helps to keep trade fair and open across state lines.

Triumph argues that the federal government already regulates the company, and similar to USDA-inspected facilities, states cannot add to and interfere with those regulated spaces when preempted by the authority of Congress. 

Triumph is a pork processor based in St. Joseph, Missouri. The company produces more than 1.5 billion pounds of pork annually and employs more than 2,400 workers.