well i think that it's really nice to know that it's not as inhumane as once suspected. i'm still against the practice, but i think that it's a bit better to know that it's not quite as bad as everyone's thought. i feel like we need to hear things like this -since everyone's always so against how animals are raised for food. (granted i'm a vegetarian, so i can't believe that i'm saying that this isn't so bad).

ooh happy ducks with tubes shoved down their throats so they could be forcefed, get diseased livers and have wealthy people enjoy eating them.
awesome.

With a little research, you will learn that Foie Gras was discovered because ducks naturally stuff themselves before they migrate. "Force feeding" them is just helping them along with what they would do to themselves regardless. Au Bon Canard, here in Minnesota, is another producer of humane foie gras. All the restaurants that use foie gras here use this brand. Not only is it humane, but it is also better tasting according to experts.

And people act like KILLING a duck is humane. If you are going to be okay with killing a duck then there should be no problem with humanely raising them. Is it any different than force feeding cows corn and other grain at the end of their lives?

"What impact do you think this will have on the foie gras industry?" I think it's clear from the three people who have already commented so far: a vegetarian who is "still against the practice", a vegan who still uses the term "diseased" to describe livers that the article concluded were not so (see p. 4, quotations by Dr. Jaime Ruiz and Dr. Tirath Sandhu), and an omnivore who reacts rather predictably as well. More answers to your question can be found in the heated arguments available from the Village Voice article's comments, which strongly suggest that nothing amounting to actual change is in the air.

Very rarely does a story like this change people's minds about their actions. The general response is either "Oh, I knew that already" or "I don't believe it." In this case, we can add a third: I'm mildly less opposed, but I'm still opposed. I eat foie gras - I like it a lot. And this article hasn't changed my opinion of how tasty it is. And since I'm already OK with my food having once been alive and now no longer so, I've worked that part of the morality of meat into my cost-benefit analysis of eating the stuff.

I weep no more for the cow that has been slaughtered than for the carrot that was cruelly plucked from the ground, skinned and roasted for my amusement. What does get to me is that Hudson Valley spent more on legal bills this month than I will this semester on tuition and housing. Passed on to the consumer, that's a lot of extra money to charge, and the only people benefiting are the lawyers, most of whom would likely eat foie gras, and now have the income to do so. Come to think of it, keep suing - I need a job when I get out of law school.

I've heard of places that do overfeed (not forcefeed with tubes) ducks (which as was pointed out is a natural action for them to do before migration). The livers are smaller than forcefed ones and do cost more but for me personally I wouldn't mind tryig it at higher prices (never had it though). All the animal products (meats, dairy, eggs..ect) come from local farms that allow animals to roam, eat organic grass, sit in the sunshine and do what they naturally do. There is a much higher price tag on these types of products, but I'm willing to pay more and eat less if it means animals have better quality of life. Maybe I'll give it a shot (when its in season later).

I basically agree with shoneyjoe. I don't think that this is going to change people's minds. The veg people will continue to find ways to label the practice as inhumane, and those who eat foie anyway will just use it to justify the practice to those who find fault with it. Basically, I'm guessing it will just preserve the status quo.

I once visited a duck farm, and let me tell you - those ducks are treated so much more kindly than chickens ever are. If you want to have issues with animal cruelty then look to poultry farms and stockyards.

Well, duh!

kmckay I agree. Just because they don't look in pain doesn't mean they aren't. I think this is horrible just the same.

Just because they don't "seem" to be bothered, or appear unfazed and don't vomit, doesn't make the act any more acceptable. It's likely that they've become so accustomed to having a foreign object shoved down their throat unwillingly that their gag reflexes no longer get activated. Similar to bulemics.

@ lommie, not just bulemics: pornstars too.

I don't agree with force feeding any animal.
I buy my meat from publix (I forget the brands name) where the animals were free range and lived comfortably before being slaughtered.
I used to be a vegetarian but I got really sick, I hate eating meat but really...what can you do? I eat as little as possible and am hopeful of the prospect of humane death of the animals in the future.

I am not surprised but then I worked at a beef abbotair in my university holidays when I was younger. And I can honestly I was impressed with the way the animals were treated. Unfortunately the process of obtaining food from animals is never going to be cruelty free and meat is an excellent source of protein.

Well at least a journalist is being honest about this practice (at this farm at least) people like me who love foie gras have always known that there are places to purchase it where it is humanely produced...and entirely yummy.

Unfortunately there are articles like this one printed a couple of times per year and the misconceptions about foie gras are only slowly fading. It would be nice if science, rather than raw emotion, informed our public policy. Chicago already reversed its ban on foie gras, California should abandon its misguided plan.

I just love the self-righteous and self-satisfied selfish gits in here (you know who you are) who keep talking about how supposedly "humane" foie gras production is while because they would oh-so easily condemn other creatures to suffer and die to fullfil greedy, selfish palates and desires. You're nothing but filthy MORLOCKS.

THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS "HUMANE FOIE GRAS."

Get that through your heads. Peddlers of this "product" will show you anything and tell you any lie to sell you what they have, and the truth be damned. It's the same thing as saying that "cyprus mulch is green" when loggers in Lousiana are cutting down old trees, hundreds of years old, to grind up into mulch and intentionally mislabeling it so you'll buy it, guilt-free. Not going to happen.

Just remember that every time you consume the flesh of another creature, it's a CHOICE you make, and it's NOT necessary at all for your health or your happiness, but the meat/dairy/egg industries have a ring through your collective noses and lead you around like the morons you are. And you're as guilty as the slaughterhouse worker who abuses and kicks the animals around before killing them, and you can't excuse your involvement by claiming "you didn't know." And don't try to claim next that the workers don't abuse the animals, either, because several of them were just convicted in X on felony animal abuse charges for beating, stabbing and STOMPING on turkeys before shackling these birds up to be torn apart ALIVE. You can claim these processes are "humane" all you like but that will NOT ever make it so because there is too much overwhelming evidence to the contrary, and cherry-picking what you want to hear and then deciding it's humane is self-imposed ignorance.

Foie gras is NOT humane, and it's NOT natural, either, for the fool who suggested that "birds 'stuff' themselves prior to migrating." Birds eat, they don't have tubes shoved down their throats scaring and scraping their soft tissue. They don't eat so much that they hemorrhage from their cloacas because of the extreme pressure. That anyone would believe otherwise because some profiteer claims such to justify this horrible toture as their "livelihood" would be laughable were it not shocking that one could be so easily misled.

Wake up and understand that a great MANY people oppose foie gras and many of them aren't vegans and vegetarians. Stop villifying those people because they refuse to participate in violence against animals and you feel the need to attack them because YOU can't justify your own violence against animals and their example of peace towards other species serves to illustrate that your continued choices mean pain and suffering for other creatures.

Meat is NOT an "excellent source of protein," as it clogs the colon and is a major source of colon cancer, Crohn's disease and other ailments, not to mention heart disease. Humans didn't evolve to consume flesh, especially not on a daily basis. It's too bad some git here actually believes the food pyramid pushed by the meat/dairy/egg industries on the USDA because those misleading lies and propaganda were used to peddle their bloody products, not do anything to disclose the truth or provide any of us with decent foods.

Wake up and understand that EVERY actions humans do have many, many negative consequences for other creatures, and turning a blind eye to it and telling yourselves it's "humane" won't make it so. It won't ever make it so.