News

State Journal-Register, The (Springfield, IL)
Senate panel OKs ban on force-feeding ducks for creation of French delicacy

March 10, 2005

Ducks may be sleeping a little more soundly in Illinois.

On Wednesday, a state Senate committee unanimously approved legislation that would ban the force-feeding of birds for the creation of foie gras.

The text of Senate Bill 413, sponsored by Schaumburg Republican Kay Wojcik, refers to "birds" in general but was written with ducks in mind.

To make foie gras - "fat liver" in French - a tube is inserted into a duck's throat that pumps as much as one pound of food per day into its stomach, according to Gene Baur (formerly Bauston) , president of Farm Sanctuary, a group that works to "stop the cruel practices of the food animal industry." After three weeks, a duck's liver can be 10 times its normal size, at which point the animal is slaughtered and the foie gras harvested.

Members of the Executive Committee groaned and asked Bauston to stop halfway through his graphic description of the effects of force-feeding.

California and several European nations have moved to ban feeding - and in some cases the sale - of foie gras, but France still harvests 24 million livers each year, Bauston said.

Foie gras is considered a delicacy among gourmets and can cost more than $30 per pound.

The Illinois Farm Bureau and representatives of the pork industry filed forms with the committee indicating they opposed the legislation. Farm Bureau spokesman Dennis Vercler said later the legislation could "set a precedent for regulating traditional livestock feeding practices."

Wojcik, Bauston and Vercler agreed they were not aware of any farms that force-feed birds in Illinois, but supporters say the shrinking number of states and countries where producing foie gras still is legal make SB413 necessary to prevent such farming from moving to Illinois.