Greenwashing Causes Beef Between Protein Companies, Consumers, and the Food, Safety and Inspection Service: The Need for Environment-Related Food Labeling Regulations

Note by: Sarah Shepherd

In this Note, Sarah Shepherd examines the intense legal and regulatory conflicts surrounding greenwashing and environment-related food labeling in the meat and poultry industries. Shepherd details how protein conglomerates like Tyson Foods and JBS USA mislead climate-conscious consumers with unsubstantiated claims like "net-zero emissions". She analyzes the limitations of the current litigation-heavy landscape, tracing how advocacy groups and state regulators have filed consumer protection lawsuits such as EWG v. Tyson and People v. JBS USA. Shepherd argues that courts and a gridlocked Congress are structurally ill-equipped to police these highly technical climate claims. She evaluates the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), pointing out that its August 2024 guidelines merely encourage data substantiation rather than enforcing statutory truthfulness mandates. Ultimately, she advocates that the agency must utilize the Administrative Procedure Act notice-and-comment process to promulgate binding regulations to help solve the rampant greenwashing of climate-conscious consumers.