One of the most successful advertising slogans in the world of food is the target of a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Agriculture filed on Monday by the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS).

The lawsuit charges that the National Pork Board “struck an unlawful backroom deal with a D.C. lobbying organization for the purchase of the iconic ‘Pork: The Other White Meat’ slogan. The deal allows $60 million in pork producers’ money collected for marketing and promotion purposes to be diverted into industry lobbying efforts aimed at harming animal welfare and small farmers.”

The slogan was developed by the National Pork Producers Council in 1987, prior to the formation of the National Pork Board, and has been credited with helping to increase pork consumption in the United States as much as 20% by 1991. The Pork Board purchased all rights to the slogan from NPPC in 2006, to be paid over 20 years in annual installments of $3 million each. The Pork Board used the slogan with the tagline “Don’t be Blah” for its 2008 advertising campaign, but started using “Pork. Be inspired” last year.

NPPC CEO Neil Dierks responded to the lawsuit by calling it a “bullying tactic” on the part of HSUS. “NPPC is reviewing the HSUS complaint, but it appears there is no legal merit to this claim, and it is another desperate attempt by the radical activist group to severely curtail animal agriculture and take away consumer food choices,” said Dierks in a statement from NPPC. “This also is the latest bullying tactic by HSUS in its efforts to force NPPC to abandon its position on allowing farmers to choose production practices that are best for the welfare of their animals.”

Even NPR is able to see that. A post about the story on the NPR food blog notes, “remember, this all comes from the Humane Society, which would love nothing better than to bankrupt the National Pork Producers Council.”

HSUS also includes “an independent pig farmer and on behalf of its pig farmer members” as a plaintiff in the lawsuit and they are asking the court to “cancel the unlawful purchase and ensure that the remaining balance—tens of millions of dollars—will benefit the producers who fund the checkoff instead of NPPC’s anti-animal, anti-farmer lobbying agenda.”