Foie Gras War: New York State Attack

By JULIETTE ROSSANT The Foie Gras War is resurfacing in New York State with a vegeance. The The New York Times reported today that animal rights activists and others are seeking to ban foie gras through a move in Albany: In a 16-page petition, the the Humane Society of the United States and others, including New York residents, asked the state's Department of Agriculture and Markets to use a law ordinarily applied to food like rotten or mislabeled beef. The groups want foie gras declared an "adulterated" food within the meaning of Article 17, Section 200 of the Agriculture and Markets Law. The agriculture commissioner would then have the option of banning foie gras. The foie gras producers bring up the fact that ducks and geese naturally overeat before migrating, and the livers of fattened-for-foie-gras birds return to normal if they are not forced fed. The last quote in the article, if you get that far, is from Michael Ginor, founder of Hudson Valley Foie Gras , in Ferndale, N.Y.: "To me, the issues are, one, are the ducks sick?" Mr. Ginor said. "And the U.S.D.A. looks at every duck pre- and post-mortem, so it's not a diseased product. And, two, can it make people sick? Foie gras has been eaten by people for 5,000 years, and if it caused any disease we'd probably know it by now.” Maybe that quote should come up to the top of the article? Too often, it seems, the loud noises (can we call them honking or quacking?), of the animal rights activists, drown out sound science and our own best energies that could be spent on more meaningful problems in our society. Related news: USA Today Reuters MSNBC (Reuters) Detroit News (Los Angeles Times) Los Angeles Times Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Previous articles: [Foie Gras War - complete] [Chefs & Politics - complete] Technorati Tags: superchefblog, Juliette Rossant, super chef, celebrities, chefs, food, restaurants, cooking, branding, cuisine, blogging, food blogging --> back to superchefblog