Judges Dump Foie Gras Back off California Menus

Ninth Circuit rules state's ban doesn't conflict with federal agriculture regulations.

Svetlana Kolpakova / Dreamstime

Hide your foie gras, California restauranteurs! A panel of judges with the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has restored a law that bans serving or selling the gourmet product if it was produced by force-feeding birds.

The ban took effect in 2012 in California but was suspended by a judge in 2015. The judge ruled that federal regulations under the Poultry Products Inspection Act (PPIA) pre-empted a state-level ban.

Fancy restaurants rejoiced, but supporters of the law pushed on and appealed. Today three federal judges determined that the ruling in 2015 was in error. The PPIA prohibits states from imposing requirements on ingredients that contradict federal regulations. But this foie gras ban technically regulates a process, the manner by which the foie gras is made. Therefore, the judges ruled, the California law does not come into conflict with the PPIA at all.

That ruling is essentially a weirdly technical distinction, since it effectively bans foie gras as an ingredient anyway by banning the process used to make it. Read the ruling here.

Food policy expert Baylen Linnekin has written extensively on this fight here. ReasonTV also explored the animal rights claim that force-feeding ducks and geese is cruel. That's the justification been used to implement the ban. Watch below:

Comments

[Crusty Juggler - Lawbertarian]

Hide your foie gras, California restauranteurs!

Starting off with an abstract euphemism, eh Scppt?

[Crusty Juggler - Lawbertarian]

Do you know who else force-fed birds?

[DEATFBIRSECIA]

Hiltertyson?

[Citizen X - #6]

British doctors specializing in the treatment of anorexia?

[Scarecrow Repair & Chippering]

Alfred Hitchcock?

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

Sesame Street?

[$park? leftist poser]

Dreamstime
Hide your foie gras, California restauranteurs!

Please!

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

But this foie gras ban technically regulates a process, the manner by which the foie gras is made.

Is there a way to make foie gras using a different process?

[$park? leftist poser]

Sounds to me like getting the liver ready means stuffing the stupid duck's fat face with as much as you can cram into it. I suppose if you could nicely convince the duck to overeat you could still make it.

Maybe they just need to figure out how to give ducks self esteem issues so they'll just be prone to overeating.

[Scarecrow Repair & Chippering]

Sounds to me like getting the liver ready means stuffing the stupid duck's fat face with as much as you can cram into it. I suppose if you could nicely convince the duck to overeat you could still make it.

Sounds to me like you don't know much about the making of fois gras.

[$park? leftist poser]

I know nothing about the making of foie gras except for the fact that some people in CA are objecting to birds being force-fed.

[Scarecrow Repair & Chippering]

Then you know only lies concerning fois gras.

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

Tell us then. Disavow me of the Foie Gras hype!

[Zeb]

Yes. It's kind of interesting, actually.

And from what I've read about it, if it's done well, the birds don't really seem to mind having lots of food crammed down their throats. If you think about it it makes some sense. Ducks swallow stuff whole, and in the wild when they are building fat stores for migration they cram themselves full of whatever they can get. We look at them being force fed and think how awful that would be. But we aren't ducks. We wouldn't like swallowing a live fish whole either, but they do.

[Voxpo]

Then why not just offer them nice big tasty fish-shaped chunks of whatever it is these artisans are so intent on the fowl eating? If the ducks or geese get so enthusiastic about it, I'd think they'd seek it out and swallow it on their own--especially if that was the only food offered. But, did anyone in the video contradict the claim that the livers become excessively fatty? Causing a disease condition, if that is what it is, on the birds would seem to, in itself, be cruel, whatever physical method they use to achieve it.

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

Well if you're going to kill the goose and eat it, I'm not sure the disease condition is really cogent. I've always assume the issue was they were essentially tortured during their short lives before they were killed.

[Voxpo]

Disease generally results in suffering for animals that with that capacity, so I think we're more or less in agreement.

[Longtobefree]

California.
Secede already, and take Hawaii with you.

[Migrant Log Chipper]

You'd think the progtards in Cali would have bigger fish to fry.......lololollololololol. Having spent a lot of time there it's wishful thinking, still funny though.

[Voxpo]

Since ducks, geese, etc. can't speak English, I do think it's worth seriously entertaining counterarguments (on their merits). Such as: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/.....82104.html

[Voxpo]

"ReasonTV also explored the animal rights claim that force-feeding ducks and geese is cruel."

So far, I can't say I'm very impressed with how deeply you explored this claim.

[dantheserene]

Gotta love the 9th circuit. As usual, they reached the conclusion first, then pounded on any excuse they could find to support the conclusion.