Center for Food Safety v. Lakey, No. 03-13-00094-CV, 2014 Tex. App. LEXIS 1763 (Tex. Ct. App. Feb. 19, 2014)(

(plaintiffs included a public interest food safety group and several individuals; plaintiffs sought injunctive relief requiring the Texas Department of State Health Services (the Agency) to enforce Tex. Health & Safety Code §821.003, which prescribed requirements for how caretakers were to treat “live birds,” including housing them in suitable cages and providing them with suitable food and clean water; plaintiffs alleged that Texas egg production facilities were violating this statute and that the Agency should step in and enforce the law; in affirming the trial court’s dismissal of the action, the appellate court found that it lacked subject matter jurisdiction to consider the matter; section 821.003 was intended to prevent cruelty to animals, not health risks associated with food production; the Agency did not have a mandatory, nondiscretionary duty to enforce the statute; rather, local law enforcement officers were tasked with enforcing §821.003; the legislature had granted the Agency extensive authority to address unsanitary conditions in egg production facilities through other means).