A U.S. District Judge ruled that a portion of the recent Massachusetts law that bans the sale of pork if a pig is held in a confined space is unconstitutional. However, Boston media reports say the judge is allowing that part of the law to be severed, and the rest will stay in effect for now.
Judge William Young made the ruling following a lawsuit by pork processors and other pig farmers who believed the pork law was unconstitutional. The law, called “The Prevention of Farm Animal Cruelty Act,” was approved by voters in 2016 and banned the sale of eggs, veal, and pork from animals held in conditions deemed cruel. The portion of the law getting argued was an exemption that allowed the sale of pork from federally inspected slaughterhouses in Massachusetts that don’t meet requirements as long as the buyers take possession of the pork while on their premises.