Within six months, it will no longer be possible to produce or sell foie gras in Brazil. The new law bans pâté made from the livers of ducks and geese subjected to force-feeding, a technique that animal protection organizations have been denouncing for years because of the suffering it causes and because it drives up bird mortality.
Anyone who persists with the practice will not only pay fines: the regulation even provides for prison time. A drastic change for a product that until now has circulated completely normally in the country’s restaurants and gourmet shops.
The news crossed the ocean and went straight to the heart of France, where foie gras is not just food: it is national identity. French producers have already warned that this could strain the trade agreement between the European Union and Mercosur. What began as an animal welfare law in Brazil now threatens to become a diplomatic conflict on another level.
