French producers attack US decision on foie gras ban
FRANCE (Reuters) - French foie gras makers have accused the US Supreme Court of bowing to false claims by vegetarian lobbyists with its refusal to hear an appeal against a California ban on the delicacy produced from force-fed ducks and geese
11 January 2019
2 minute read
By: The US court on Monday declined to hear an appeal by producers that also included a Canadian non-profit organisation that represents duck and goose farmers, clearing the ban on a product that French lawmakers recognised in 2006 as part the European country's "cultural and gastronomic heritage".
France is by far the world's largest foie gras producer with a market share of about 70 percent.
"It is unacceptable that such a decision, taken under the influence of the lobbying of some activists orchestrating regular misinformation on our products to advocate dogmatic vegetarianism, could endanger the image of an emblematic dish of the French art of living," Michel Fruchet, head of French foie gras producers group Cifog, said in a statement on Tuesday.
French foie gras producers mainly export to Japan, Spain, the Netherlands and the Middle East, but none have been cleared to export to the United States.
Foie gras is made from the livers of geese or ducks that have been fattened with grain by force-feeding.
Sold whole or as a pate, it is considered a gourmet food in Western and Asian cuisine, but production through force-feeding has often been criticised as cruel by animal rights activists.
Reporting by Sybille de La Hamaide Editing by David Goodman
Ryan Johnson
Ryan worked in conservation from 2008 to 2017, during which time he operated a rainbow trout hatchery and helped to maintain public and protected green spaces in Canada for the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority. As editor of The Poultry Site, he now writes about challenges and opportunities in agriculture across the globe.
