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With the Halloween season upon us, it’s a scary time for Big Food.

Last week Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson slapped a lawsuit on the Grocery Manufacturers Association alleging it had illegally collected and donated over $7 million to defeat I 522, the state’s GMO labeling initiative. Two days later, the GMA caved under pressure and released the list of donors it had hoped to keep secret.

If the GMA thought that releasing the list would make the lawsuit go away, they soon found out otherwise. AG Ferguson yesterday announced he will seek penalties from the GMA. The time to comply with the law is at the outset, not two weeks before Election Day, the AGO said.

Scarier yet, the attorney for Moms for Labeling, Knoll Lowney, has filed another class-action lawsuit asking the judge to order No on 522 (1) to “sequester” $7 million to pay for future penalties, (2) to stop running ads that don’t correctly report the top 5 corporate contributors (the GMA should have been listed at the top), and (3) to discontinue receipt of further contributions from the GMA.

This last item is significant, since the GMA still has $6 million worth of contributions sitting in its war chest. As we know, $6 million could buy a lot more ads as the tightening race comes down to the wire.

It should be noted that until the AG filed suit last week, the GMA steadfastly maintained that it had widespread support among its members. But the list released Friday showed otherwise: only 34 of its over 300 members were willing to contribute.

Not surprising considering the consumer backlash after last year’s California labeling campaign failed by a narrow 51 to 49 margin.