A judge in California has overturned the state’s ban on foie gras. The delicacy is made from fattened duck liver and is produced using “gavage” — a method of force-feeding a bird through a tube inserted in its mouth. The ban was passed in 2004 and went into effect in 2012. Its supporters argued that the production of foie gras is inhumane. Questions have also been raised about the food safety of foie gras. The argument, which is rejected by U.S. Department of Agriculture, is that force-fed birds develop bacteria or toxins in their blood, resulting in a disease that can prove fatal before slaughter. U.S. District Judge Stephen V. Wilson issued the ruling on Wednesday, writing that the federal Poultry Products Inspection Act regulates the sale and distribution of foie gras and trumps California’s law. The ban had been challenged by California restaurant owners and foie gras producers in Canada and New York. Animal-rights groups immediately asked California Attorney General Kamala Harris to appeal the ruling to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Her office indicated the judge’s ruling was being reviewed.
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The 2-year-old petition from Animal Partisan to the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), calling upon the agency to share its federal jurisdiction over animal abuse with state
The Food and Drug Administration uses import alerts to enforce U.S. food safety regulations for food from foreign countries. The agency updates and modifies the alerts as needed.
Recent
The USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has updated its public calendar to provide information about its meetings in March and April.
It lists meetings held by the
IAEA and FAO are to hold an event next year focusing on the use of nuclear technologies for food safety.
The International Symposium on Food Safety and Control will take
Following a consumer complaint, Olympia Provisions of Portland, OR, is recalling 1,930 pounds of ready-to-eat holiday kielbasa sausages that may be contaminated with foreign material, specifically metal, the USDA’
Maître Saladier Inc. of Quebec, Canada, is recalling 6,000 pounds of Lorraine Quiche products containing pork that were not presented for import reinspection into the United States, the USDA’
James Skinner LLC is recalling of a lot of Publix Maple Walnut Coffee Cake because the wrong ingredient label was applied to the packaging on certain units.
The product may
