Environmental Working Group v. Food Safety & Inspection Service

Environmental Working Group (EWG) filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit to compel disclosure of Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) records concerning the decision to allow Tyson Foods, Inc., “one of the largest beef producers in the United States,” to market industrially produced beef as “climate friendly.” The complaint alleged that the failure to release documents “deprives consumers of information urgently needed to assess Tyson’s climate claims—and the government’s goal in approving them.” EWG alleged that FSIS had produced reports that redacted all information concerning greenhouse gas emissions in Tyson’s supply chain, all instances in which Tyson presented or applied its greenhouse gas emissions accounting methodology, and all explanations concerning Tyson’s ability to achieve greenhouse gas emissions reductions. FSIS cited FOIA’s exemption for protecting “commercial or financial information obtained from a person that is privileged or confidential” as the basis for these redactions. EWG asserted that the defendants failed to meet their burden of establishing that the exemption applied.