Tyson Foods plans to appeal a ruling by a federal judge who granted a preliminary injunction against marketing efforts that claim its poultry products don't contain antibiotics. Rivals Perdue and
Sanderson are arguing that the ads are misleading because none use those types of drugs, but consumers might be led to believe they do.
Sanderson claims $4 million in lost sales as a
result of the Tyson campaign, while Purdue sets its losses at $11 million.
In his ruling, U.S. District Judge Richard Bennett says he is convinced "that the consumer public is being
misled" by Tyson's "raised without antibiotics" marketing. For its part, Dave Hogberg, Tyson's senior vice president of consumer products says: "We firmly believe we have acted responsibly in the way
we have labeled and marketed our products." Tyson is not currently running any of the ads but was planning to resume them for the summer grilling season and it intends to ask an appellate court to
stay the judge's order.
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