Foie gras controversy
[7][8][9][10] Late in 2003, the French group Stopgavage ("Citizens' Initiative for the banning of force-feeding") published the Proclamation for the Abolition of Force Feeding, which asks justices to find foie gras production practices a violation of existing animal welfare laws.
[14] In 2005, the organisations APRL, IDA and PETA released a video narrated by Sir Roger Moore showing footage the groups took inside the three U.S. foie gras farms and several in France.
Most recently in April 2009 PETA released a letter written by television and stage actor Bea Arthur to TV chef Curtis Stone deploring the practice of foie gras.
[23][24] On physiology, the report finds that based on studies available, "no definite conclusions can be drawn concerning the physiological activity of birds in response to force feeding" because although "force feeding induced hepatic steatosis in the duck or goose", "hepatic steatosis in the waterfowl is a normal metabolic response" and there was a low incidence of lesions.
As an economic indicator the report states "it is strongly in the interest of the farmer" to avoid disease as the "resulting fat liver is of no commercial value".
It summarizes that "some pathologists consider this level of steatosis to be pathological but others do not" and recommends that research "should be carried out into methods of producing fat liver which do not require the use of force feeding".
On the force feeding process, the EU committee examined several experiments carried out by INRA (Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique) to detect pain or distress by looking at blood hormones, and found that no definite conclusions can be drawn from these studies.
However, in the working group's own observations, "Ducks in cages had little opportunity to show avoidance but sometimes moved their heads away from the person who was about to force feed them."
After hearing testimony from 13 delegates, the HOD declined to take a position and left a simple statement: "Limited peer-reviewed, scientific information is available dealing with the animal welfare concerns associated with foie gras production, but the observations and practical experience shared by HOD members indicate a minimum of adverse effects on the birds involved."
The overall position of the House of Delegates was that "observations and practical experience shared by HOD members indicate a minimum of adverse effects on the birds involved.
[26] Critics of the AVMA have stated that the organization tends to defend the economic interests of agribusiness over animal welfare, and that it has also declined to take a position against other controversial practices such as forced molting and gestation crates.
"[30] Dr. Ward Stone, wildlife pathologist with the NYSDEC and adjunct professor at SUNY has on several occasions conducted post-mortems on ducks that died from force feeding, including from the same farm a few months after Downes' visit.
"[32] In 2005, the delegates from New Jersey and Vermont of the American Veterinary Medical Association gave testimony to the organization after touring tube-feeding farms.
Producers argue that wild ducks and geese naturally ingest large amounts of whole food and gain weight before migration.
Mirepoix USA, a top provider of goose and duck foie gras, alleges that the animal rights activists attack is a form of prohibition against a cuisine item.
Mirepoix claims that the use of the term "diseased" to refer to fatted liver is inaccurate and that geese and ducks naturally store dead fish in their esophagi for long periods.
[43] The Legislature then intervened with a law allowing the farm to continue force feeding until the year 2012, after which point both the sale and production of foie gras has been illegal in California.
is a 2006 lawsuit filed by the Humane Society of the United States against the New York Department of Agriculture and Markets, alleging that foie gras qualifies as an adulterated food that should not be sold.
[49] In February 2013, the Animal Legal Defense Fund filed an appeal in a lawsuit against the New York Department of Agriculture and Markets for allowing the ongoing sale of foie gras.
The original lawsuit, which was dismissed in February for lack of standing, alleges that the Department violates its own Agriculture and Markets Law by allowing the sale of foie gras.
In the appeal, the Animal Legal Defense Fund will defend its legal standing to bring the case, noting it has diverted substantial resources to warn the public of the dangerous health risks posed by foie gras and, will assert that the Department's failure to regulate has resulted in the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of diseased birds whose organs are distributed into the human food supply.
[50] In July 2014, India banned the import of foie gras[54][55] making it the first[56][57] and only[58] country in the world to do so, causing dismay among some of the nation's chefs.
[65] Foie gras production is banned in several countries, including most of the Austrian provinces,[65] the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Norway, Poland, Turkey, and the United Kingdom.
[59] The force feeding of animals for non-medical purposes, essential to current foie gras production practices, is explicitly prohibited by specific laws in Austria,[66] Croatia,[67] the Czech Republic,[67] Denmark,[67] Finland,[65] Germany,[68] Italy,[69] Luxembourg,[67] Norway,[70] Poland,[71] or following interpretation of general animal protection laws in Ireland,[citation needed] the Netherlands,[67] Sweden,[67] Switzerland,[67] Turkey,[67] and the United Kingdom.
[77][78] "Until new scientific evidence on alternative methods and their welfare aspects is available",[79] the production of foie gras is prohibited by treaty except for "where it is current practice" among 35 countries[77] bound by the Council of Europe's European Convention for the Protection of Animals kept for Farming Purposes.
[81] In August 2003, the Supreme Court of Israel ordered the Israeli Ministry of Agriculture to ban the force feeding of geese, effective 31 March 2005.
In May 2013, a bill proposed by Knesset Member Dov Lipman plans to prohibit all sales of the delicacy due to the controversial methods.
[99] As a result of the ban, Chicago restaurants Spiaggia and Tru developed dishes designed to simulate the foie gras experience.
Chicago Tribune restaurant critic Phil Vettel found Tru's "Faux Gras" "close to the real thing", and Spiaggia's "terrina de fagato grasso vegetariano" "undeniably rich and indulgent", but "[lacking] the characteristic foie-gras intensity".
