On December 3, 2015, the California Supreme Court overturned an appellate court's ruling unanimously holding that a state law claim that produce is being intentionally mislabeled as "organic" is not preempted by federal law. The court decided that the state claim brought against Herb Thyme Farms, Inc. for selling conventionally grown herbs as organic was not preempted by the Organic Foods Production Act of 1990, because "when Congress entered the field in 1990, it confined the areas of state law expressly preempted to matters related to certifying production as organic, leaving untouched enforcement against abuse of the label 'organic.'" In addition, the court stated the Act's goal was to "permit consumers to rely on organic labels and curtail fraud," and it concluded that "state lawsuits alleging intentional organic mislabeling promote, rather than hinder, Congress's purposes and objectives." In other words, the California court decided that federal law does not foreclose state false advertising suits but does limit states' ability to alter the definition of "organic," or to set up organic certification schemes.

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