New York bans foie gras on animal cruelty grounds

New York can stake a claim to being the culinary capital of the world, but one famous dish is about to be taken off the menu: foie gras.

The city council voted overwhelmingly on Wednesday to ban the sale of the French delicacy from 2022.

Lawmakers ruled that it is cruel to force-feed ducks and geese to fatten their livers for human consumption.

The law is set to go into effect in October 2022 and prohibits any establishment from selling, serving or even possessing foie gras.

Offenders will be fined anywhere between $500 and $2,000 for each offense.

Animal rights activists hailed the passing of the motion, which was voted through by 42 votes to six.

"It is a historic day for animal rights in New York City," Matthew Dominguez of the campaign group Voters for Animal Rights told AFP.

But foie gras farmers cried foul and threatened legal action.

"We're going to kick their ass in court," said Izzy Yanay, co-founder and general manager of Hudson Valley Foie Gras, one of New York state's major foie gras producers.

Yanay added that the ban would badly hit her company.

"I have 400 people who've been working for me for 30 years. Those people will face a tragedy," she told AFP.

The law, which needs to be signed into effect by Mayor Bill de Blasio, comes after the US Supreme Court upheld a similar ban in California in January, ending a 15-year legal battle.

Foie gras farmers claim their practice is not cruel and that activists have exaggerated the suffering that the animals are subjected to.

They say that the amount of corn given to a duck does not exceed the amount which it could eat on its own.

But opponents dispute that and say the use of a feeding tube is inhumane.

The production of foie gras is banned in several countries, including Britain.

The industry is exploring alternative ways of replicating the food that does not involve force-feeding.

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Top US court upholds California foie gras ban

WASHINGTON - The US Supreme Court upheld California's foie gras ban on Monday, ending a long legal battle between animal rights activists and defenders of the delicacy.

The highest US court rejected an appeal filed by foie gras producers against a law prohibiting the sale of products obtained from force-feeding geese or duck to enlarge their liver.

The law, passed in 2004 by California in the name of animal rights, carries a fine of $1,000.

It took effect in 2012, was suspended by the courts in 2015 -- but then upheld on appeal in 2017.

Producers of foie gras from Canada and New York, along with a California restaurateur, then appealed to the Supreme Court in defense of this delicacy they called "perhaps the most maligned (and misunderstood) food in the world."

They argued that a state could not ban a federally authorized product.

They had support from France, which called California's law "an assault on French (gastronomic and cultural) tradition."

The high court threw out the appeal with no explanation.

As such, California's law remains in effect.

"This victory for animals follows tireless efforts from animal rights activists to oppose the archaic foie gras industry," the animal rights group PETA said.

"Now that California can enforce this ban, PETA urges diners to blow the whistle on any restaurant that's caught serving this illegal and hideously produced substance," PETA president Ingrid Newkirk said in a statement.

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Pamela Anderson causes stir in French parliament over foie gras

Former Baywatch actress Pamela Anderson triggered scenes of chaos in France's parliament on Tuesday as journalists fought and shoved to hear her campaign for a ban on the force-feeding of ducks and geese for foie gras.

A photographer and a cameraman came to blows as those in the media scrum struggled to get shots of Anderson at a news conference. Some 25 other journalists were left stuck outside for want of sufficient space for them in the room.

The Canadian-born star was campaigning for a bill tabled by an environmentalist lawmaker, undeterred that it has little hope of passing in the absence of support from virtually all other members of parliament.

"As a Canadian, I am ashamed by the brutal clubbing of baby seals and thus I have empathy for many of the French citizens who also experience both shame and sadness at the misery suffered by these very sociable birds," Anderson said.

Foie gras is made from geese and duck livers which have been fattened, usually by force feeding. Sold whole or as a pate, it is considered a gourmet food in both Western and Asian cuisine, but the practice of force-feeding has often been criticized as cruel by animal activists.

California banned its manufacture and sale in 2012. A federal judge has blocked the ban on sales but the state appealed the ruling.

Anderson's appearance at the French parliament comes as the sector struggles with a production freeze due to the spread of bird flu in southwestern France, by far the biggest producing region. The industry says the measure will cost them as much as 350 million euros.

"We understand that some people don't want to eat foie gras but they should not keep foie gras lovers from eating it," Marie-Pierre Pe, an official with the Cifog foie gras producers association said.

France produces nearly 20,000 tonnes (22,000 tons) of foie gras per year. Its main export markets include Japan, Spain and Belgium. About 30,000 families in France depend on the sector for a living, according to the Cifog.

(Reporting by Emile Picy, Pauline Ades-Mevel and Sybille de la Hamaide, writing by Leigh Thomas; editing by Ralph Boulton)

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