Case Update: Victory in the fight against government overreach! Thanks to efforts by the Liberty Justice Center, FSIS rescinded Notice 34-21, withdrew its related interim final rule from OMB review, and restored federal inspection services and marks of inspection to all the plaintiffs’ facilities. This allowed the all three meat companies to continue expanding their operations commercially out of state.
Case Background: In 2021, the Biden Administration used a food inspection agency to implement its partisan public health agenda. But with the help of the Liberty Justice Center, a small, family-run business in Wisconsin fought back. Nolechek’s Meats is a gourmet meat shop in Thorp, Wisconsin (population 1,598) that has been crafting small-batches of award winning bacon, ham, and sausages for four generations.
Since the early 1970s, the Nolechek family has been crafting high-quality meat products that are enjoyed in their community and shipped throughout the country. In 2017, Nolechek’s Meats secured the right to receive inspection from the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), which meant that it could begin selling its products commercially out of state. Since then, the small-town meat shop has expanded its out-of-state wholesale operations into a significant component of its business.
But decades of the family’s hard work and success was all jeopardized in August 2021 when FSIS announced Notice 34-21, without any rule-making process or ability for affected parties to comment. The notice ordered all FSIS-inspected establishments to force their employees to wear masks when FSIS personnel were present. Furthermore, the notice indicated that if an establishment refused to comply, FSIS would withhold the “USDA Mark of Inspection” allowing its products to be sold commercially out of state.
Out of respect for their employees’ discretion to make their own health choices and because they believed that FSIS did not have authority to impose a mask mandate, Nolechek’s Meats’ owners, Kelly Nolechek and Lindsey Fox, declined to comply with the notice. FSIS immediately revoked their Mark of Inspection and denied their subsequent appeals.
In response, Nolechek’s Meats’ owners took to social media to publicize their story and plead for help. Their efforts resulted in tens of thousands of likes, shares, and views, and the Liberty Justice Center got involved by representing Nolechek’s Meats in a lawsuit against the United State Department of Agriculture and FSIS on grounds that Notice 34-21 violated established constitutional and administrative law.
The Liberty Justice Center aimed to overturn this illegal and intrusive Biden Administration overreach and restore the liberties of the owners and employees of Nolechek’s Meats and other small businesses across the country.
On Jan. 15, 2022, We’re the Wurst Incorporated of Redmond, Ore., and Golden City Meats, LLC, of Golden City, Mo., joined the lawsuit to end the illegal mask mandate imposed on small businesses. Both We’re the Wurst and Golden City Meats had their Marks withheld for refusing to comply with the illegal federal requirement. Without the Mark of Inspection, products from the businesses could be labeled “adulterated,” recalled and be prohibited from being sold to wholesalers for reasons entirely disconnected and untethered from the safety and quality of the businesses’ meat products.
The case was filed on December 2, 2021 in the United States District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin.
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(Fox Business | Cavuto Coast to Coast)—Lindsey Fox, fourth-generation owner of Nolechek’s Meats, and Daniel Suhr, managing attorney at Liberty Justice Center, joined Neil Cavuto to discuss their challenge to the USDA mask mandate. The Liberty Justice Center is representing Nolechek’s Meats in the federal lawsuit, Nolechek’s Meats vs. USDA,...
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