Op-ed: The Farm Bill Is No Place for Big Pork’s ‘Save Our Bacon’ Act
May 28, 2026 | Source: Civil Eats | by Russ Kremer
As the Senate works through the draft of the updated farm bill, controversies continue to surface over key provisions, including language from the so-called Save Our Bacon (SOB) Act.
Approved in the House farm bill, the act would override states’ authority to restrict the sale of meat based on animal welfare standards. Senate Agriculture Committee Chair John Boozman (R-Arkansas) has said that SOB Act language won’t be in the Senate draft, expected to be released the first week of June. But whether the draft emerges from committee without that language is still very much a question.
The pork industry and its allies in Congress have been trying to overturn state-approved livestock standards for years, and defenders of the SOB Act signaled just this week that they’ll try to reintroduce it during the Senate ag committee’s markup of the bill over the coming weeks. Not only that, but for the farm bill to become law, both the House and Senate will have to align their versions—another hurdle positioning the SOB Act to be a major battle in an already controversial farm bill.