HSUS Files Action to Have Foie Gras Banned as an Adulterated Food

WASHINGTON — Today, The Humane Society of the United States, the Government Accountability Project's Food Safety Program, Farm Sanctuary, and several other organizations filed a formal action with the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets to have foie gras declared an adulterated food product based on an extensive scientific investigation into how the diseased livers are produced. New York is the largest foie gras-producing state in the country.

Based on more than 900 pages of evidence, including statements from leading avian veterinarians in the United States and one of New York's own state wildlife pathologists, the coalition has asked the state to ban foie gras under a long-standing state law that makes it illegal to produce food from diseased animals. In the petition, these experts explain how the production of foie gras destroys the ducks' livers, killing a significant portion of the animals and leaving others dying from blood toxicity, nerve damage, suffocation, and other complications. Video footage of New York-based foie gras production facilities showing dead and dying animals confirms these statements.

The Department will have 30 days to respond to the action, which calls for the state to declare foie gras an adulterated food product under state food safety and inspection laws. "It's illegal for farmers to intentionally make their animals sick and then sell them at market as if nothing were wrong," stated Carter Dillard, Director of Farm Animal Litigation for The HSUS. "There may be places in the world where farmers are allowed to keep diseased and severely ill animals, but this isn't one of them."

The production of foie gras—French for "fatty liver"—is widely recognized both in the United States and abroad as employing one of the most notorious practices in the animal agribusiness industry: force feeding. Birds are force-fed for weeks an unnatural amount of nutritionally deficient food delivered via a pipe thrust down their throats multiple times each day, until their livers become fattened and diseased. This can cause painful bruising, lacerations, sores, and organ rupture. The birds' livers can enlarge more than ten times the normal size, making it difficult for the birds to move or breathe. Often, the birds are intensively confined in filthy warehouses.

In May, the State of New York granted Hudson Valley Foie Gras more than $400,000 in taxpayer funds to expand its facility that violently force-feeds birds to produce foie gras. State officials publicly defended that decision by claiming that the factory farm is in compliance with all applicable state laws. And in June, The HSUS filed notice of its intent to sue Hudson Valley Foie Gras for more than 900 violations of the Clean Water Act, stemming from the facility's discharge of chlorine, ammonia, and fecal coliform into the Middle Mongaup River. The HSUS has announced that it will sue to block the grant unless it is withdrawn.

Two bills currently pending in the New York Assembly and Senate would ban the practice of force-feeding ducks and geese in New York. Due to animal welfare concerns, California and more than a dozen countries have banned the production of foie gras, and Chicago recently banned its sale. In 2004, a Zogby poll indicated that nearly 80% of Americans believe the practice of force-feeding ducks and geese for foie gras should be banned. 

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The Humane Society of the United States is the nation's largest animal protection organization with 9.5 million members and constituents. The HSUS is a mainstream voice for animals, with active programs in companion animals, disaster preparedness and response, wildlife and habitat protection, animals in research, equine protection and farm animal welfare. The HSUS protects all animals through education, investigation, litigation, legislation, advocacy and field work. The non-profit organization is based in Washington and has field representatives and offices across the country. On the web at hsus.org.