Foie gras back on menu as California lifts ban

Californians will be able to legally eat foie gras again after a judge on Wednesday overturned a ban on sales of the delicacy that has been in force in the US state for the past two and a half years.

One restaurateur who fought the ban said he will begin serving foie gras again immediately.

"It will be back on the menu tomorrow," said Sean Chaney, chef-owner of Hot's Kitchen in Hermosa Beach. "It's awesome ... what a way to start the new year."

Opponents of foie gras, produced by force-feeding geese or ducks, slammed the ruling by a federal court.

"Foie gras is French for fat liver. And fathead is the American word for the shameless chefs" who serve the gourmet food, said animal rights group PETA.

"A line will be drawn in the sand outside any restaurant that goes back to serving this torture in a tin."

California lawmakers agreed on the ban in 2004, but gave the state's foie gras producers several years to comply before it came into effect on July 1, 2012.

Restaurants serving the dish were subject to fines of up to $1,000.

The ban outlawed the force-feeding of ducks or geese to make foie gras with-in California, and barred sales of foie gras produced elsewhere if made by force-feeding a bird to enlarge its liver beyond the normal size.

In his ruling on Wednesday, District Judge Stephen Wilson wrote that the law is unconstitutional because it interferes with an existing federal law regulating poultry products.

Impassioned debate

The foie gras ban was "a topic impacting gourmands' stomachs and animal activists' hearts," the judge wrote.

The ruling came after an association of producers who supply Canada's foie gras imports to the United States joined forces with Hudson Valley Foie Gras, the largest US producer, to seek to have the law overturned in a Los Angeles court.

Lawyer Michael Tenenbaum, who filed a civil suit against the state of California, said his clients are losing at least $15,000 per day as a result of the law.

California Attorney General Kamala Harris's office said it is reviewing the ruling, but had no immediate comment.

The Animal Legal Defense Fund and the Humane Society vowed to appeal the ruling.

"The state clearly has the right to ban the sale of the products of animal cruelty... We are asking the California attorney general to file an immediate appeal," they said in a joint statement.

In the run-up to the 2012 ban, some of the Golden State's top chefs, calling themselves the Coalition for Humane and Ethical Farming Standards, redoubled their efforts to persuade lawmakers to overturn the ban. They staged a series of special evenings to raise money for the cause.

However, John Burton, the former lawmaker who drafted the legislation, likened foie gras production to outlawed practices such as waterboarding or female genital mutilation.

He told the San Francisco Chronicle, "I'd like to sit all 100 of them down and have duck and goose fat - better yet, dry oatmeal - shoved down their throats over and over and over again."

(China Daily 01/10/2015 page10)