Oregon Latest State to Consider Banning Foie Gras
Date: 28-Apr-05
Country: USA
Author: Polly Forster
The bill, passed on Tuesday by 18-8 votes, would make it a crime to force-feed fowl or serve the fattened livers in restaurants, although the law has yet to go into effect since it will next face a vote in Oregon's House of Representatives.
The French delicacy has become a national issue in the United States. Animal rights activists argue that enlarging the birds' livers to produce the delicacy is cruel.
If enacted into law, Oregon would become the second state in the nation to ban foie gras production. In California, a law passed last year bans the force-feeding of ducks and geese to make foie gras starting in 2012.
Laws outlawing foie gras have been proposed in New York, Illinois and Massachusetts.
"I felt this was something to take on because something like this shouldn't be going on in Oregon either now or in the future," said Ted Keizer, who drafted the bill for State Sen. Joanne Verger, a democrat.
In the United States, 90 percent of the goose liver comes from two New York state firms, and it is also produced in California. France and Hungary are well known for their foie gras although a number of European countries ban production via forced feeding.
The bill goes next to Oregon's House of Representatives where its future is uncertain. Opponents say that the state's legislature should not waste its time, since foie gras is not produced in Oregon.
"At a time when we don't have a K-12 (education) budget and a health and human services budget, to go and pass a bill to prevent the force-feeding of ducks that's not even a problem in Oregon, demonstrates to me that we have our priorities out of line," said state senator Jason Atkinson, who predicted that the bill would fail in the House.
A delay in passage of the bill signals good news for the chefs in Oregon's French restaurants.
"It would be such a shame for it to be banned," said Dolan Lane, the chef de cuisine at Portland's popular Bluehour restaurant, which usually serves eight portions of foie gras each day, seared and accompanied with dates and orange zest.
"It's such a classic dish and that process has been around for so long. It would take away a bit of our culinary history," Lane said.
