NEW YORK CITY, NY — New York City lawmakers voted on October 30 to ban the sale of foie gras in restaurants and grocery stores beginning in 2022. Foie gras is produced using a method called gavage: force-feeding ducks or geese a fatty corn-based mixture that engorges their livers up to 10 times their normal size. There are three foie gras producers in the United States, and two of them—Hudson Valley Foie Gras (HVFG) and Labella Farms—are located in Sullivan County.

The two farms, along with a third called Rougie, formed the Catskill Foie Gras Collective and worked against the ban, which it said could threaten 400 jobs in Sullivan County and millions of dollars in revenue both inside and outside of NYC.

The practice of force-feeding has made the farms a target of animal rights activists for years. To some, force-feeding ducks appears as if it would be harmful, but supporters say duck throats are not like human throats—for instance ducks have no gag response—and the practice does not harm the ducks.

“Each farm uses a hand feeding method, where individual feeders establish relationships with the group of ducks they feed, and the ducks are not caged. Independent veterinarians and scientists conclude that hand-feeding ducks causes them no harm. The most detailed scientific study of the effect of feeding on ducks at foie gras farms was published in 2004 in the World Poultry Science Journal. That study concluded that foie gras is a ‘nonpathological and non-harmful product.’ Further, the study found that biological indicators of stress were ‘hardly affected’ by the feeding procedure,” the collective said of the feeding process.

Animal rights activists were never convinced by this argument and groups such as Brooklyn-based Voters for Animal Rights and others lobbied for the ban. Lawmakers voted 42 to six in favor of it, and when it goes into effect, violators will face fines of $500 to $2,000.

The bill was introduced by council member Carlina Riviera who, along with other lawmakers, was invited to visit the farms, but none of them accepted the offer. That prompted state Sen. Jen Metzger to issue this statement: “It is wrong that the city council took this vote without heeding our calls to come visit the farms and consider the impacts of the ban, which puts hundreds of jobs at risk in an economically challenged community. The decision shows an utter lack of understanding of the realities of our rural economy. With three years until the ban takes effect, my office will work to help keep these farms in operation and keep the workers employed.”

The farms have promised to challenge the ban in court. They estimate that about 4,000 pounds of foie gras are sold weekly in NYC. The two Sullivan County farms also sell duck products to pet food processors, and duck feathers that are used in down bedding and coats.

California banned foie gras in 2012. A federal judge ruled in 2015 that the ban was unconstitutional, but a federal appeals court overturned that decision in 2017. On January 7, this year, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case leaving the ban in place.
In 2006, the City of Chicago banned the sale of foie gras, but reversed course two years later in response to a public outcry.

The owners of the two Sullivan farms have produced a fact sheet about their operations: “HVFG is owned by Izzy Yanay and Michael Ginor, both Israeli immigrants. HVFG is a company made up of immigrants, as over 90 percent of its 284 employees are South American. The average hourly wage is $15 per hour, not including owners and senior management, and not including the value of free housing and utilities for 100 of the farm’s employees. HVFG has a bi-weekly free medical clinic and a robust community garden program. The neighboring La Belle Farms in Sullivan County also employs 80 people.

“The regional economic impact by both farms is estimated to be at least $150 million. Over the years the two companies combined have been one of the largest economic engines for Sullivan County, a rural area with little manufacturing, a struggling economy and generally poor quality soil for farming.

“New York City is the largest market for the Sullivan County farmers. The loss of this market risks the viability of these businesses. A number of nearby and supporting businesses would also be deeply affected. For example, the local feed mill, Cochecton Mills, provides feed for hundreds of nearby small farmers. A number of Cochecton Mills’ larger customers, family-run dairy farms in Orange County, Sullivan County and northern Pennsylvania, have recently gone out of business. La Belle and Hudson Valley have supported the buy-local movement and are now the largest customers of the Cochecton Mills. The loss of this mill would be devastating to the Hudson Valley’s farming community.”