California Appeals Ruling to Overturn Foie Gras Ban

This week, California Attorney General, Kamala Harris, filed an appeal of last month’s court decision to overturn the ban on foie gras. Challenged by restaurant owners and foie gras producers, a Los Angeles judge lifted the ban in January, claiming that a state cannot trump federal poultry regulations. Foie gras—which means “fatty liver” in French and is produced by force-feeding ducks and geese so their livers become enlarged—was first outlawed in the state in 2004, but the ban did not go into effect until 2012. According to Nathan Runkle, founder of animal-rights organization Mercy For Animals, “In a civilized society, it is our moral obligation to protect all animals, including ducks and other farmed animals, from needless cruelty and violence … the people of California clearly have the right to prohibit the sale of a product that is the result of abject animal abuse.”