Can U.S. Courts Rule on Marketing Authenticity?

At Eat Local Food, we believe in portraying yourself, your business and your products in the most authentic, accurate manner possible. Your company values statements should reflect the principles you most highly believe in – to the extent that you wouldn’t be in business if you couldn’t follow these main beliefs. This recent federal appeals court ruling suggests that the U.S. government thinks you can be "too authentic" in your marketing.

Creekstone Farms Natural and Premium Angus Beef is a Kansas based meat packer that wanted to test 100% of their beef for Mad Cow disease. A federal appeals court ruled the government could prohibit this type of testing. It appears that the reason is the U.S. Department of Agriculture only tests a small percentage of cows for the disease, and if Creekstone tested all of its beef, they would have a competitive advantage over the larger meatpackers who are financially reluctant to conduct this expensive test on all their cows. Creekstone already reports the following competitively advantageous policies on their web site (http://www.creekstonefarms.com/index.html):

The Creekstone Farms Natural Protocols: No Antibiotics – EVER! No Added Hormones – EVER! No Growth Promoting Drugs – EVER! No Artificial Ingredients – EVER! 100% Vegetarian Diet –Sourced Verified to Ranch of Birth – Humane Animal Handling Practices

To add “100% Mad Cow Disease Free” to this list would certainly be another impressive values statement which would appeal to many consumers. For the government to prohibit this kind of thoroughness in product development and food safety is outrageous. It suggests the unfair influence the large meat packers have on industry standards, resulting in a competitive advantage for themselves. We believe if Creekstone was willing to pay for and document the testing, they should be able to do it and use it in their advertising.

Here's the NY Times link to the article - see what you think: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/30/business/30briefs-APPELLATEPAN_BRF.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Appellate Panel Bars Tests for Mad Cow Disease
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: August 30, 2008
A federal appeals court has ruled that the government can prohibit meat packers from testing their animals for mad cow disease. Because the Agriculture Department tests only a small percentage of cows for the deadly disease, a Kansas meatpacker, Creekstone Farms Premium Beef, wanted to test all of its cows, but the government says it cannot. Larger meat companies worry that if Creekstone is allowed to perform the test and advertise its meat as safe, they could be forced to do the expensive test, too. The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit said restricting the test was allowable.