New York has passed landmark legislation to ban foie gras across the city, ending sales at more than 1,000 restaurants which serve the dish.

The New York City Council passed the bill on Wednesday (October 30) which will ban foie gras sales altogether by 2022.

The move is a huge win for animal rights activists who have been fighting for a ban for many years. 

New York is one of the country’s largest foie gras markets, and it follows California in introducing a ban. 

Jan Creamer, President of Animal Defenders International said: “We applaud New York City for banning the sale of this cruel product. The force feeding of animals for foie gras has no place in modern society and Animal Defenders International calls on other cities and states to follow the council’s compassionate lead.”

Carlina Rivera, a Manhattan councillor, said the bill she sponsored “tackles the most inhumane process” in the food industry. 

“This is one of the most violent practices and it’s done for a purely luxury product,” she added.

Inhumane

To produce foie gras, ducks and geese are force-fed several times a day through tubes which are inserted into their throats.

The process causes their livers become diseased and swell to up to ten times their normal size. 

By the end of their lives, many birds have trouble walking or even breathing because their enlarged livers compress their lungs. 

Animal rights group PETA has released exposés of foie gras farms that show sick, dead, and dying birds, some of whom had holes in their necks from being impaled by the feeding pipes.

But restaurant owners have reacted with fury to the decision in New York. Owner of acclaimed French restaurant Tocqueville told the New York Times: “New York is the mecca of dining in the world. How is it possible that New York doesn’t have foie gras?”

“What’s next? No more veal? No more mushrooms?”

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