AR-News: ENN: California takes a step toward banning foie gras

[jim robertson]

http://www.enn.com/news/2004-04-28/s_23247.asp

California takes a step toward banning foie gras



Wednesday, April 28, 2004
By Reuters



SACRAMENTO, California — A California legislative committee approved a bill 
this week that would ban the production and sale of foie gras in the 
nation's most populous state.

The Senate committee voted 4-2 for the measure, whose sponsor said it would, 
if passed, take effect in 7.5 years and make production of the enlarged 
liver of a goose or duck by force-feeding an infraction punishable by fine.

The bill, which now moves to the Senate floor, aims to give foie gras 
producers time to find ways other than force feeding to make the delicacy, 
its sponsor said.

"Many people see it as an inhumane process when you cram a 12-inch tube down 
a bird's throat in order to come up with more foie gras," Senate President 
John Burton, a Democrat said in a statement. "There are other ways of doing 
it, and the bill gives sufficient time for the processor to work that out."

The furor over foie gras has festered for months in northern California. 
Last summer vandals trashed a Sonoma County restaurant north of San 
Francisco and threatened the restaurant's co-owner at his home for serving 
the food.

Exact figures on California foie gras production were not immediately 
available, and only one farm is believed to be producing it in the state.

France is by far the world's biggest foie gras producer, though some animal 
rights activists there, including actress Brigitte Bardot, have tried to 
convince natives to stop eating the traditional French dish.

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