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Thomas URBAN France Media Agency
Several executives of companies in the sector in the New York region have indicated their intention to challenge this law, which has yet to be ratified by the mayor of New York, Bill de Blasio.
The outcome of Wednesday’s vote was not in doubt: a majority of elected officials had shown their support for this text, presented at the beginning of the year by several city councilors.
From the end of 2022, that is to say in three years, it will be prohibited to sell foie gras, to use it or even to hold it.
Violators will face a fine of between $ 500 and $ 2,000, which can be renewed every 24 hours.
New York will join the state of California, where marketing has been banned since January, even if the legal battle continues around this decision.
The production of foie gras is banned in several countries, including Denmark, the United Kingdom and Australia.
“This is a historic day for animal rights in New York,” commented after the vote, Matthew Dominguez, political advisor of the association Voters for Animal Rights, which played a major role in this issue.
The text adopted Wednesday specifies that the ban concerns products from the force-feeding of animals, a practice denounced by elected officials as well as by several animal protection associations.
For Matthew Dominguez, force-feeding is an “atrocity”.
The animal welfare association Animal Welfare Institute hailed, in a tweet, the end of the marketing in New York of “this inhuman luxury food”.
Today there is an offer of foie gras obtained without force-feeding, but its volumes are insignificant on an industry scale.
“We are going to fight”
AFP
A farm in Hudson Valley, one of the two big foie gras producers located in upstate New York.
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In addition to amateurs, retailers and restaurateurs, the first affected by the measure will be the two large producers located north of New York, Hudson Valley Foie Gras and La Belle Farm.
Foie gras from these two farms supplies a significant part of the New York market, even if the measure would also have an impact for French producers.
To the opponents, who assure that the animals suffer from force-feeding, Hudson Valley Foie Gras responds that the quantity of grains administered to the ducks does not exceed what they could eat on their own.
They also point out that the duck gizzard naturally has a storage function and does not have the sensitivity of that of a man.
“We are going to fight,” responded Ariane Daguin, founder and CEO of D’Artagnan, an intermediary that supplies a large part of the New York market with foie gras. “We’re going to go to trial.”
For her, the new law “is not constitutional at all”. “It is not for a city council to decide what is or is not cruel to animals.”
The entry into force of the measure “would be dramatic” for D’Artagnan, she said, because foie gras and pieces of fatty duck account for about 10% of its turnover, or $ 15 million.
For Izzy Yanay, co-founder of Hudson Valley Foie Gras, activists have attacked its industry because it is modest compared to the giants of breeding and agribusiness.
“It’s very easy to attack us,” said the company manager who announced a “tragedy” for some of his 400 employees if the measure came into effect.
“They have been waiting for this victory for 40 years,” he continued, referring to animal rights activists. “They made a breach in the glass wall. Now, they have their precedent ”, which will allow them, according to him, to attack other industries.
“All breeding and production is inhumane. Why take a small one like that? ” responded Hugue Dufour, chef of the restaurant M. Wells Steakhouse, in Queens.
“Those who get by are still fast food, the big chains,” added the chef, who serves foie gras in his establishment.
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