CO Pork Producers Council Stands in Support of Advertising

In 2013, the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) filed a lawsuit against USDA objecting to their approval of a contract between National Pork Board (NPB) and the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) for the purchase of the trademark "Pork. The Other White Meat" by NPB, which had been approved by USDA in 2006. The case was originally dismissed for lack of standing, but was reinstated in 2015 by an appeals court.

Subsequently, USDA entered into settlement discussions with HSUS. While USDA has not shared the terms of settlement being discussed with NPB, USDA has withheld approval of the annual payment to NPPC in 2016.

Colorado Pork Producers Council Executive Director Joyce Kelly shares more about what was decided at the recent National Pork Board delegate assembly by a resolution telling the USDA Secretary how the industry would like this issue handled.

Kelly: "When North Carolina put this proposal before of the delegate board at the Council — 100 percent of the representatives of the states and industry at that time stood in unison and joined the resolution add their names to it and it passed unanimously with the delegate body as well. Basically what the resolution says is that they don't want the Secretary to go into settlement talks without using every resource that he has available to him to vigorously defend the decision."