Going to court: Updates on poultry industry lawsuits in the US

Several poultry sector lawsuits are underway in the US. Photo: Canva

Several poultry sector lawsuits are underway in the US, including several involving Tyson Foods, the world’s largest producer of chicken products.

Washington-based Environmental Working Group is now suing Tyson Foods for allegedly misleading consumers by saying it will reach net-zero emissions for production of its various meat products by 2050.

In 2021, Tyson said it would achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 through increased use of renewable energy and eliminating deforestation in its supply chain, etc., but the lawsuit alleges there is no actual plan in place to achieve this.

Water quality in Oklahoma

Meanwhile, a state lawsuit that began 15 years ago that involves Tyson Foods and other poultry firms is moving forward. The suit was originally filed in Oklahoma in June 2005 against 13 poultry companies.

According to a local news source, the judge recently noted that bodies of water in the state “have suffered at the hands of the industry and that remediation of the watershed is necessary” due to the dumping of “hundreds of thousands of tonnes of the industry’s poultry litter.”

The court is requesting that the State of Oklahoma show whether the accumulation of phosphorus remains an issue on water/land, and that the poultry company defendants gather any new information that may show the environmental issues no longer exist.

Plant closure

Tyson Foods is also being sued for closing its Dexter, Missouri chicken processing plant in the autumn of 2023. The owner of 3 poultry farms that raised chickens for slaughter at the plant filed the lawsuit, but attorneys are seeking to make it a class-action lawsuit to represent other affected farmers.

The Missouri Independent reports that Tyson held contracts with local producers within 50 miles of the 25-year-old plant to produce chickens, but “those farmers – some with no experience and no collateral – took out government-backed loans and invested huge sums to build facilities to Tyson’s specifications… Tyson retained ownership of the birds, the lawsuit says, which shifted the risk from the poultry company to the local producers.”

Tyson also closed a Noel, Missouri plant last autumn.

Whistleblower suit

In 2015, a US poultry farmer filed a federal whistleblower complaint alleging that large poultry firm Perdue Farms retaliated against him after he publicly stated that Perdue sent him sick chicks and refused to take responsibility. Some of the birds were deformed and others, said the farmer, died of apparent illnesses “just a few days after arriving at his farm”.

Now Perdue is challenging the constitutionality of the case.

This case is considered very important because if Perdue wins, “it could put an end to whistleblower protections under several national laws”, according to Dana Gold, director of the Democracy Protection Initiative at the Government Accountability Project, which is involved in fighting against Perdue in this matter.

Gold notes that whistleblower protections are a shield against retaliation, but also deter companies from doing wrong in the first place.