California’s War on Eggs & Bacon Invites Federal Lawsuit

From the first state in the nation to offer prison inmates an all-vegan menu, California voters passed a ballot measure in 2018 mandating more living space for veal calves, cows and pigs, and banned the confinement of egg-laying hens in cages.

Proposition 12, the Farm Animal Confinement Initiative, also set up a ban on the sale of these agricultural products in California that don’t meet the new requirements, attempting to influence how farmers in other states raise their animals.

That’s so California.

First California legislators came for our cigarettes, and banned smoking indoors and in public parks. Then they banned plastic bags, foie gras and shark fin soup. Next they banned styrofoam, plastic straws, plastic packaging, petroleum products, and natural gas fracking. Chicken farmers are banned from caging egg-laying chickens, and the sale of pork and veal in California from farm animals raised in cages is also banned.

California even imposed a ban on fur products.

The rest of the country does not appreciate California’s nanny regulations as they reverberate across the land.

In 2022, the Globe concluded that California Hogs and Chickens Enjoy More Protections Than Unborn Babies. Penalties for violating California’s Endangered Species Act will cost you a $50,000 fine and imprisonment.

It was only a matter of time before this ridiculous list of banned products spurred a lawsuit or two, or 12.

A new lawsuit was filed Wednesday by the Trump administration against the State of California, Governor Gavin Newsom, Attorney General Rob Bonta, and other state officials over California’s laws imposing burdensome red tape on the production of eggs and poultry products. The lawsuit says California is in violation of the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution.

The federal government is accusing the California and Gov. Newsom of contributing to the high cost of eggs by imposing absurd animal welfare laws.

The lawsuit states:

1. “The United States is facing a historic cost-of-living crisis. Overly burdensome and unnecessary regulations have diminished the purchasing power and prosperity of the American worker. As a result, President Trump declared that it shall be the policy of the United States to eliminate the “crushing regulatory burden” that has “made necessary goods and services scarce.” Presidential Memorandum, Delivering Emergency Price Relief for American Families and Defeating the Cost-of-Living Crisis (Jan. 20, 2025).
   2. The State of California has contributed to the historic rise in egg prices by imposing unnecessary red tape on the production of eggs. Through a combination of voter initiatives, legislative enactments, and regulations, California has effectively prevented farmers across the country from using a number of agricultural production methods which were in widespread use—and which helped keep eggs affordable.
   3. California’s codified purpose in prohibiting the sale of eggs that are produced through various accepted animal husbandry practices is purportedly to increase the quality and fitness for human consumption of eggs and egg products sold in California.
   4. But California’s egg standards do not advance consumer welfare. For example, with respect to California’s most recent voter initiative imposing new standards of egg quality, Proposition 12, the California Department of Food and Agriculture has stated in its regulatory analysis that despite the initiative’s purported concern for consumer “health and safety,” the egg standards “are not based in specific peer-reviewed published scientific literature or accepted as standards within the scientific community to reduce human food-borne illness . . . or other human or safety concerns.”

Frivolous Governor Gavin Newsom responded on X with his usual ooze:

Trump’s back to his favorite hobby: blaming California for literally everything. Next up: @CAGovernor Gavin Newsom caused the fall of Rome and sent the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs!

As if Newsom’s ooze was not enough gelled waste, he came back with this charmer:

Or was this the rapier wit of Brandon Richards (He/Him), Newsom’s Deputy Director of Rapid Response?

Have you ever noticed that Gavin Newsom loves to brag about the California that was spectacular and amazing long before he was governor, but runs away from his own policies like every other Marxist/Leftist/Socialist/Narcissist?

However, “California’s regulation of eggs has, however, been effective in raising prices for American consumers,” the lawsuit says. “Proposition 12 alone has “caused a significant increase” in egg prices, “and therefore led to a sizeable reduction in consumer surplus.”

This is also a commerce clause issue:

Under Egg Products Inspection Act (EPIA), Congress also expressly preempted state laws intended to regulate the labeling and packaging of eggs and egg products, providing in relevant part:
For eggs which have moved or are moving in interstate or foreign
commerce, . . . no State or local jurisdiction other than those in
noncontiguous areas of the United States may require labeling to show
the State or other geographical area of production or origin . . . [and]
[l]abeling, packaging, or ingredient requirements, in addition to or
different than those made under [EPIA]…

The bottom line is:

“Regardless of the intent or effect of California’s various initiatives on egg prices, it is the prerogative of the federal government alone to regulate the quality, inspection, and packaging of eggs. In 1970, Congress passed the Egg Products Inspection Act (EPIA), which sets forth requirements to ensure that eggs and egg products are wholesome and properly labeled and packaged to protect the health and welfare of consumers of these products.”

Butt-out California plebes, say the feds.

DOJ-egg-lawsuit-v-California