A serious decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, involving the importation of beef jerky, spurs the appetite for puns and word play.
Seems that Link Snacks, Inc. was in a bit of a pickle. The company, according to the federal circuit, imports beef jerky products from New Zealand and Brazil. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection put it on the tariff menu as "cured" beef product. LSI gagged on that, with its tariff implications, and sought to get the beef jerky classified as "other" beef product.
This is a surprisingly tasty case, as evidenced by the presence of prominent attorney Gregory Garre on behalf of LSI.
LSI dished out the argument that beef jerky is a product defined more by its dehydrated properties than by the curing process, further peppering the argument with the observation that the Agriculture Department classifies meat products based on moisture content.
But after chewing that over for a while, the federal appellate court concluded that the government was correct in contending that the curing process controlled the tariff schedule decision.
Case cured!