Feb 11, 2008 2:01 pm US/Pacific
California Lawsuit Over Salmon Dye Labeling OK'd
SAN FRANCISCO (BCN) ―
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Salmon bought at a market.
CBS
The California Supreme Court gave a green light Monday for consumers to sue grocery store chains to enforce a state law requiring labeling of dyes added to farm-raised salmon.
The high court said unanimously that a federal food labeling law doesn't preclude California citizens from using state consumer laws to enforce an identical state labeling law.
The court issued its ruling in San Francisco in a case consolidating lawsuits filed by individual consumers in Los Angeles, Alameda and Monterey counties.
Justice Carlos Moreno wrote, "Congress appears to have made a conscious choice not to preclude such actions."
The lawsuits say that two petrochemical-based dyes, astaxanthin and canthaxanthin, are added to farm-raised salmon to make it appear the same pink color as wild salmon. Without the dyes, the farm-raised salmon would be grayish in color, the lawsuits say.
The suits are seeking to require grocery chains including Albertson's Inc., Safeway Inc., Kroger Co., Trader Joe's Co. and Whole Foods Market Inc. to label the farm-raised salmon as containing dyes.
Kevin Golden, a lawyer with the Center for Food Safety in San Francisco, said, "The decision means citizens have a right to know what's in their food and sends a strong message that California citizens can enforce state food safety laws as a matter of state law."
The food safety group filed a friend-of-the-court brief supporting plaintiffs in the case.
Craig Spiegel, a lawyer for the consumer plaintiffs, said his clients don't want to ingest the chemical dyes and said, "People have the right to determine whether to put artificial dyes in their bodies."
Rex Heinke, a lawyer for the grocery chains, said they are considering a further appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court as well as further proceedings on unresolved issues in a state appeals court in Los Angeles.
Heinke said, "We're disappointed with the decision and we believe it is wrong."
Both the federal law, entitled the U.S. Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, and the California law, known as the Sherman Food, Drug and Cosmetic Law, require labeling of artificial dyes used in food.
Spiegel said his clients sought to enforce the state law for farm-raised salmon because they were not aware of any federal government efforts to enforce the U.S. law.
The high court overturned rulings in which a Los Angeles Superior Court trial judge and the state Court of Appeal in Los Angeles said the lawsuits were pre-empted by the federal law.
Moreno wrote that the federal labeling measure explicitly allows states to pass identical state laws. He said there is no indication in the U.S. law that Congress "intended to limit the scope of remedies states might choose to provide for violations of those laws."
Another friend-of-the-court brief supporting the consumer plaintiffs was filed by the Los Angeles city attorney and the district attorneys of 12 counties, including Alameda, Marin, Monterey, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Solano and Sonoma counties.
(© CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Bay City News contributed to this report.)
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