The Foie Gras Controversy

It has been banned entirely in the city of Chicago and the state of California and Wolfgang Puck announced he was planning to take it off the menus at his restaurants nationwide. Why is foie gras so controversial?

Foie gras is French for fatty liver, usually taken from a duck or a goose. It is used in a myriad of dishes of the culinary elite - from sausages to sandwiches, even in ice cream. It's expensive and seen as a status symbol, much like caviar.

However, the controversy comes in the way in which foie gras is made. A regular liver is not foie gras; it's just liver. Foie gras is, very literally, produced.

Let's follow a typical duck through the process of becoming part of this $17.5 million a year business. The duck starts his transformation by roaming outside for twelve weeks. All is well during the period, and the duck likely receives better treatment than many other ducks slaughtered for meat.

After that's done, the duck enters a four-week period of force feeding called gavage. This is the process that animal rights activists object to. Several times each day, the duck has a tube inserted directly into its esophagus and is forced to consume several pounds of corn meal. This causes the liver to fatten rapidly, sometimes increasing its size nearly twelvefold. At the end of the process, the duck is killed and the liver is removed.

Activists who seek to ban foie gras from menus say that the process can lead to food entering the duck's lungs, disease, and a painful existence. Advocates argue the process is carefully controlled and causes the ducks little to no pain or discomfort.

Most foie gras is produced overseas, but a notable percentage comes from the Hudson River Valley in New York. These producers have frequently come under attack, but several scientists have said that the birds are treated well in these areas. Foie gras producers in France have been cited for a more inhumane process, which often uses machinery to feed the birds.

Only recently has the practice come to the attention of legislators. California's law was passed in 2004 and will become effective in July 2012. It bans the production and sale of foie gras in any form within the state. Chicago passed its own law in April 2006, but some chefs either outright disobey the law or give away foie gras for free, a legal practice.

It's tough to tell which way the battle is going, as similar laws are proving tough to pass in different areas of the country. Birds have been force-fed by humans since the time of the Egyptians 5,000 years ago and it seems that it will continue in some form for the foreseeable future.

Sources:
New York Magazine
The Independent newspaper article
Shut Up and Eat Your Food
MSNBC Article