The Trojan Horse strategy, historically employed in warfare, finds a modern adaptation in the advocacy efforts of animal welfare activists. They seek to address the dire conditions within concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) through the guise of food safety regulatory reform. This Note explores contemporary challenges in livestock welfare, particularly within the context of CAFOs dominating the agricultural landscape. Despite mounting evidence of the detrimental effects of CAFOs on both public health and animal well-being, federal legislation remains elusive due to the powerful influence of Big Agriculture on lawmakers and regulatory bodies. Drawing inspiration from Upton Sinclair’s seminal work The Jungle, animal advocates aim to leverage public concern over food safety to advance livestock welfare initiatives. But current political and judicial landscapes present insurmountable barriers to successful implementation of this strategy. Through an analysis of historical precedents, legislative challenges, and judicial doctrines, this Note cautions against placing undue reliance on food safety reform as a panacea for addressing the systemic issues within the meat and dairy industries. Instead, it advocates for a more nuanced approach to advocacy—one that considers the complex interplay of political, economic, and social factors shaping the animal welfare discourse—and opts for a more prudent, albeit slower, strategy for securing federal change.
Author
J.D. Candidate, 2025, Northwestern Pritzker School of Law; B.S.M., Tulane Freeman School of Business. Thank you to the Northwestern University Law Review Online team for helping get this piece to publication. Thank you to my friends and family for helping get me there too. Special thanks to Rowan Aragon, whose compassion for animals and drive for change inspires my own, and to Dheven Unni for sticking with me every step of the way of Volume 119.
Copyright 2025 by Colleen J. McAulay
Cite as: Colleen J. McAulay, Losing Battle, Pyrrhic Victory: Federal Barriers to Improving Livestock Welfare, 119 Nw. U. L. Rev. Online 237 (2025), https://scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1350&context=nulr_online.