The Days of Foie Gras Are Numbered
Without doubt, foie gras production is one of the cruellest things animals are subjected to in factory farming today. It is one of the very few products made by deliberately inducing a painful, debilitating disease in healthy young animals.
The EU took a small but important step this week toward banning the production of foie gras.
The French delicacy, which represents either luxury or cruelty depending on which side of the table you sit on.
EU legislation can be somewhat convoluted. What typically happens in the EU is that the European Commission, the executive body, proposes legislation which the European Parliament then either approves, amends, or rejects. In this case, however, it was the European Parliament that acted first, formally requesting on 10 June 2021 that the Commission draft a law, which the assembly and EU member states would then finalise and adopt. In other words: A ban on foie gras is now on the European menu — but it has not yet made it to the table.
Should the EU ultimately impose a ban, however, the effects would likely reach far beyond the continent. According to industry estimates, 90% of the world’s foie gras is currently produced in the EU’s 27 member states.
Literally translated, foie gras means “fatty liver” in French. It is made from the enlarged livers of ducks and geese that have been force-fed through a process known as gavage. This involves inserting a tube into the animal’s throat to fatten it before slaughter. Animal rights groups such as PETA regard this as inhumane, while defenders of foie gras claim that such concerns are misguided, as they anthropomorphise animals with a different physiology to that of humans.
In addition to ending what is described as “cruel and unnecessaryAlong with the force-feeding of ducks and geese, the European Parliament also intends to phase out cage farming in the coming years.
The EU has some of the strictest animal welfare standards in the world, including a ban on battery cages for chickens. Nevertheless, the government estimates that the vast majority — more than 90% — of rabbits raised in the EU are kept in cages. The new regulations would cover both animal products manufactured in the EU and those imported into member states. The resolution also calls on the EU to approve financial measures to support European farmers in adopting the stricter animal welfare standards.
Governments around the world have increasingly taken steps in recent years to remove foie gras from menus, including in India, Israel, and the United Kingdom. In the United States, several local and state bans have been passed with varying degrees of success. The city of Chicago banned the sale in 2006 before repealing the law two years later. A statewide ban in California was partially overturned by a federal judge last summer. And a ban in New York City is set to take effect next year.
