Six states filed a lawsuit to stop California’s new poultry law that prohibits the sale of eggs from chickens that aren’t raised within strict space requirements. A federal appeals court says the states failed to show how the law would affect the states themselves rather than individual farmers. An Associated Press report says California voters approved a ballot measure back in 2008 that required the state’s egg-laying hens to spend their days with enough space to allow them to lie down, stand up, turn around, and fully extend their wings. In 2010, California legislators added to that law by banning the sale of any eggs from hens that weren’t raised within those standards. The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court ruling that dismissed the lawsuit. The six states involved in the suit were Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Alabama, and Kentucky.
From the National Association of Farm Broadcasting news service.