After California, it was the New York City Council which adopted a text on Wednesday, October 31, banning foie gras. The text which has yet to be ratified by the mayor of the city, Bill de Blasio, provides for the ban on the marketing of foie gras from 2022.
It will be forbidden to sell foie gras, to use it or even to own it. Violators will face a fine of between $ 500 and $ 2,000, which can be renewed every 24 hours.
“A historic day”
“It’s a historic day for animal rights in New York”, commented, after the vote, Matthew Dominguez, political advisor of the association “Voters for Animal Rights”, who played a major role in this file.
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.
“We are going to go to trial”
“We are going to fight”, reacted 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’s not up to a city council to decide what is or is not cruel to animals. “
New York will thus 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 also banned in several countries, such as Denmark, the United Kingdom or Australia.
Little impact in France
This decision annoyed in the southwest of France but the measure will have no economic impact on the sector in France, ensure Thursday the professionals of the sector.
“For us, there will be no economic impact because we have no French company that exports, because we need specific health approvals for the United States”, assures Marie-Pierre Pé, director of the Interprofessional Committee for Foie Gras (CIFOG). “It is a symbol of French gastronomy that is targeted, but nothing beats banning a product to boost its sales”, warns Marie-Pierre Pé, director of the Interprofessional Committee for Foie Gras (CIFOG). “For us, there will be no economic impact because we have no French company that exports, because we need specific health approvals for the United States”, she also adds.
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