Foie Gras Ban passes in Sacramento

[Guest guest]

but it will take effect in 2015.....in the meantime, I hope people

will understand what's happening to the poor ducks and refuse to

eat/buy Foie Gras

 

Posted on Wed, May. 19, 2004

 

Foie gras ban bill moves forward

 

By Kate Folmar

 

TIMES SACRAMENTO BUREAU

 

 

SACRAMENTO - Foodies, consider this fair warning.

 

A bill by Senate President Pro Tem John Burton that would ban the

production and sale of foie gras produced by force-feeding ducks and

geese has taken another step toward passage.

 

By a 24-14 vote, the Senate on Tuesday approved the ban, which would

take effect in 2012. No Republicans supported SB1520, which now moves

to the Assembly.

 

If the bill becomes law, producers could be fined $1,000 per bird,

per day. The ban would effectively put California's only producer,

Sonoma Foie Gras, out of business. Company representatives have said

previously that their birds are treated humanely.

 

The controversy involves the process by which the decadent staple of

French cuisine is produced. A feeding tube is inserted into ducks and

geese to engorge their livers to up to 10 times their normal size.

Switzerland and the United Kingdom already have banned foie gras

production.

 

To many animal lovers, it's a brutal practice. But some gourmets

contend a ban would infringe on people's rights to eat what they wish

and could lead to other prohibitions on animal consumption.

 

Senate Republican Leader Dick Ackerman of Tustin voted against the

bill on personal and philosophical grounds.

 

" My wife loves it, it's her favorite food, " he said after the

vote. " I think it's really getting government involved in people's

lives where they don't belong. "

 

Burton, a San Francisco Democrat, disagreed.

 

" The process of ramming metal tubes down ducks' throats and then

forcing air and food into them constantly is cruelty to animals, " he

said after the vote. The measure " has nothing to do with telling

people they can or can't eat foie gras. "

 

Burton insists that the bill will not stop people from buying and

eating foie gras. But Daniel Scherotter, the executive chef at Palio

d'Asti in San Francisco, doesn't see how that's possible, because

ducks and geese do not naturally produce the fatty livers that are

foie gras.

 

" I tend to view it as a freedom-of-speech, diet, commerce and bodily-

control thing rather than a foie gras thing, " said Scherotter, who

started serving foie gras terrine after acts of vandalism against

other foie gras purveyors. Burton has not expressed interest in

tackling other consumables.

 

Teri Barnato of the Davis-based Association of Veterinarians for

Animal Rights, said foie gras lovers may still be able to get their

fix humanely if the ban becomes law.

 

As an alternative, she and bill sponsors are planning a tasting event

for lawmakers next month that will feature " faux gras " -- pates made

from California lentils and mushrooms.