The municipal council has approved a law that acknowledges the protests of animalists against the forced feeding of ducks and geese. About a thousand restaurants in the city offered the product
Sit in a restaurant of New York City and order a crouton of Foie gras. From 2022 it will no longer be possible: the municipal council has approved a law will prohibit the sale in the city, just like it already happens in California.
How to make foie gras
He decided this because the specialty of French haute cuisine is obtained by forcing ducks and geese to aforced feeding (gavage) with a mixture of fats based on corn that induces an abnormal growth of the liver and an increase in fat in the liver cells (steatosis): the alarm was launched by the animalists, according to whom the production technique of foie gras is a unacceptable cruelty to animals.
The gavage requires the insertion of tubes in the duck or goose throat and a forced diet for 20 days, so that the liver reaches a size up to 10 times greater compared to the normal one. The process can cause animals to no longer be able to walk or breathe before being killed, as animal rights activists explain. The producers of foie gras, on the other hand, argue that forced feeding does not cause pain or damage to health, and that the scientific evidence so far available on the subject is not sufficient. And, again, that a strong prejudice is rooted against foie gras just because it is a luxury product.
An animal rights issue
Carlina Rivera, city councilor of Manhattan, supporter of the law prohibiting foie gras, said that the law "fights the most inhuman process" of the commercial food industry. "This is one of the most violent practices and is accomplished for a purely luxury product", commented. Other countries, including India, Israel and Great Britain, are also prohibited from selling or producing.
Any violation of the law will be punishable by one $ 2,000 fine (almost 1800 euros). The forbidden foie gras is the one produced by "birds fed by force": according to the norm, it will be assumed that all foie gras come from ducks or geese that have undergone gavage, unless the "documentary" proof to the contrary is provided.
About thousand restaurants in New York City have foie gras in your menu. Ninety grams of product can be sold for $ 125 (about 112 euros). But the biggest impact will be felt by the farms north of New York City, those that produce foie gras. Carlina Rivera states that, since the ban will not take effect in three years, farms will have the opportunity to adapt their business models. "These farms produce dozens of other products," he told the New York Times. "And the gavage is too cruel."
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