WASHINGTON — On Aug. 9, a US appeals court upheld the dismissal of an animal rights group’s lawsuit filed against the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) for approving “misleading labels” depicting chickens roaming freely outside a barn.

The group, known as the Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF), filed its complaint against Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) in 2021.

According to court records, FSIS approved labels for Perdue Farms’ Fresh Line chicken and turkey products on several occasions in 2018 and 2019 that included graphics of chickens or turkeys outside a barn in a field of corn and other plants. The label markets the birds as having been “raised cage free.”

In 2020, ALDF asked FSIS to deny approval of any Perdue labels containing the same or similar imagery. Since the cage-free birds are raised in a facility, the group argued the imagery was deceptive.

FSIS, however, rejected ALDF’s request, responding in a letter that “photos, colors, and graphics used on packaging are not considered labeling claims and do not make the product label false or misleading.”

Following the rejection, ALDF filed its complaint with a US district court on behalf of itself and one of its members, Marie Mastracco, whom the group claims was injured when she bought Fresh Line chicken for her dog. The court dismissed the case, saying ALDF’s allegations lacked standing.

In a unanimous decision, a DC Circuit Court of Appeals panel agreed with the lower court’s dismissal.