Serving Foie Gras Could Come With Year In Jail Under Proposed Law

NEW YORK – Serving foie gras in New York City could be a crime punishable by up to $1,000 and a year in jail if a new bill is passed by the city council.

Serving the French delicacy – long hated by animal rights activists because it's made by force-feeding geese and ducks to engorge their livers – would be illegal under the law proposed by Councilwoman Carlina Rivera, a Democrat representing Lower Manhattan.

“[Foie Gras] is not part of the diet of everyday New Yorkers,” Rivera told the New York Post. “Less than 1 percent of all New York City restaurants serve it. This is truly a luxury item.”

California already bans the pate, which literally translates as fatty liver in French. A ban in Chicago in 2006 was repealed two years later.

The proposal, which was introduced last week, got wide support on Twitter.

Councilman Justin Brannan, a Democrat from Brooklyn, tweeted, "Don’t tell me you’re a fan of the Central Park Mandarin duck but you think foie gras is OK."

(Lead image by Stephen Chernin/Getty Images)