Petition in the works to put a foie gras ban on the Denver ballot

A petition campaign is underway to secure a place on the 2025 election ballot in Denver to ban foie gras in the Mile High City.  

This year, the campaign sponsor calls itself “Pro-Animal Colorado,” which failed to get Denver voters to close an employee-owned lamb slaughterhouse last year.  It then went by the name “Pro-Animal Future.”

According to the website HowStuffWorks, foie gras is a duck or goose liver fattened throa group representing foie gras farmersugh, a labor-intensive force-feeding process known as gavage. The Artisan Farmers Alliance, a group representing foie gras farmers, says the process dates back to ancient times when Egyptians forced-fed domesticated geese upon discovering that waterfowl developed large, fatty livers after eating large amounts in preparation for migration.

Foie gras is considered a French delicacy. California banned the dish in 2004, and the United Kingdom, Germany, and Brazil have imposed country-wide bans.

Pro-Animal Colorado must follow several steps before its proposed ban can be placed on the ballot, including obtaining about 9,600 legal signatures on its petition.  A spokesman for the activists admits there are no factories or farms force-feeding birds in Denver, but if passed, the ballot measure would prevent any from future operations.

Only a few Denver restaurants offer foie gras on their menus. A Denver ballot measure only covers the City and County of Denver, not the many suburban cities surrounding it. 

Foie gras has a smooth texture and rich taste. It is often served as a pâté with brandy, seasonings, and truffles, pureed and spread atop toast, cooked in a terrine, or seared whole. It’s pricy because of the force-feeding requiring labor and a massive amount of feed needed to create the end product. 

Some chefs defend foie gras by pointing to more humane processes being developed, and argue against total bans brought on by activists.

Meanwhile, HowStuffWorks raises a health issue for foie gras:  “It’s a vibrant and fatty food, so it’s unhealthy to consume. The fat content of the liver is about 86 percent, meaning a 1-ounce serving contains 12 grams of fat and 42 milligrams of cholesterol.”

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