NEW YORK — Au revoir, foie gras. New York City restaurants will have to take the fattened duck delicacy off their menus under local legislation set to pass Wednesday.
The City Council bill will ban eateries and merchants from serving or selling foie gras made from force-fed birds starting in three years.
Lawmakers say the measure, supported by Mayor Bill de Blasio, aims to curb cruelty to ducks and geese despite upstate poultry farmers’ concerns that it could put them out of business.
“This is about force-feeding which is an inhumane practice that cannot be allowed to continue,” said Council Member Carlina Rivera, a Manhattan Democrat and the bill’s lead sponsor.
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Foie gras is a spread typically made from the livers of force-fed ducks or geese. Under French law, it’s derived from birds fattened up with a feeding tube known as a gauvage.
The city’s bill leaves room for duck farmers to make similar products with humane methods and for restaurants to sell them, officials said. But inspectors will assume anything labeled “foie gras” on a menu or in a store is a product of force-feeding, according to the legislation. Merchants caught breaking the rules could face fines of up to $2,000 per violation.
Lawmakers said they gave the bill a three-year phase-in period to assuage concerns from farmers about its potential economic impact. Farmers say the measure could strike a fatal blow to their business and put some 400 people out of work.
Foie gras producers contend they treat their animals with far more care than the factory farms that stock supermarkets with poultry, despite animal-rights advocates saying force-fed birds suffer from ailments such as ruptured organs, broken bones and diseases.
“From hatchling to eventual processing, our ducks live a pain-free existence,” Sergio Saravia, the president of Sullivan County’s La Belle Farms, wrote in the New York Daily News this week. “Unfortunately, you won’t hear about that from the special-interest groups that have successfully lobbied City Council members to introduce legislation calling for the ban of foie gras sales within the city.”
Some restaurateurs have also spoken out against banning a culinary delicacy in one of the world’s food capitals. David Chang, the chef behind the acclaimed Momofuku restaurants, said the “stupid” legislation reflects “a misunderstanding of the situation.”
“It’s literal election fool’s gold for the city councilman … essentially going after small time drug busts instead of doing the real hard work and building a case against drug lords,” Chang said on Twitter.
But council Speaker Corey Johnson noted that the city isn’t breaking new ground. California’s statewide foie gras ban has held up in court, and countries such as Germany have reportedly prohibited its production.