- Title: CALIFORNIA-FOOD / FOIE GRAS Chefs celebrate foie gras ban overturn in California
- Date: 9th January 2015
- Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (English) MICHAEL TENENBAUM, LAWYER, THE MICHAEL TENENBAUM LAW FIRM, SAYING: "So, two and a half years ago California thought that it could ban foie gras products because it didn't like the way they're made and now we have a ruling from a federal court that says, no they can't. The federal government regulates foie gras products and all other poultry products and California can't interfere with that." INTERIOR OF HOT'S KITCHEN
- Embargoed: 24th January 2015 12:00
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- Topics: General
- Reuters ID: LVA4JVB0CHDYAYMH9ZNR379C3JXA
- Story Text: Chefs in California on Thursday (January 8) hurried to stock their kitchens with newly legal foie gras while animal rights activists protested a federal judge overturning the state's two-year ban sales of the fatty liver of ducks and geese.
The culinary delicacy is made from the enlarged livers of ducks and geese that have been force-fed corn and Proponents of the ban say force feeding of ducks and geese to enlarge their livers is animal cruelty.
California outlawed foie gras sales and production in 2004, but the ban did not take effect until 2012.
On Wednesday (January 7), a U.S. District Court judge in Los Angeles ruled that California's ban ran afoul of a federal law regulating poultry products. The ruling only applied to the sale of foie gras. Production continues to be banned in the state.
Hot's Kitchen, in Hermosa Beach, along with Canada's Association des Eleveurs de Canards et d'Oies du Quebec and New York's Hudson Valley Foie Gras argued that California's sales restriction ran afoul of federal law and the U.S. Constitution.
Hot's Kitchen owner and chef Sean Chaney immediately put foie gras back on the menu.
"It was overturned yesterday, I found out about 11:45 from our lawyer and he called me and we were screaming and shouting on the phone, congratulating each other and it was, from that point on it was a very busy day. Everybody was calling, customers were calling, everybody wanted to know when we were getting it on the menu. That was today so we got it on the menu today and it's already started so we've already put some menu items on and we can't wait, we're excited," said Chaney.
Chaney's Hermosa Beach restaurant is under the umbrella of Hot's Restaurant Group, a plaintiff in the federal lawsuit.
While Chaney prepared foie gras in his kitchen, PETA activists held anti foie gras banners outside the restaurant.
"Well, PETA finds it unfortunate that Hot's Kitchen is shameless enough to go back to putting foie gras on their menu despite knowing the kind of cruelty that goes on behind the scenes at these foie gras farms. Ducks and geese have tubes rammed down their throats and they're force fed three times daily in order to disease their liver so it could be served at restaurants like Hot's Kitchen," said PETA campaigner Matt Bruce.
Restaurants across California are now re-stocking their kitchens with the French delicacy. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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