Indian Government Bans the Import of Foie Gras

The Indian government announced on July 3 that the import of foie gras into the country is now prohibited. The landmark decision was made after the activist group Animal Equality conducted a two year international campaign against the farming practice, in which ducks have tubes shoved down their throats and are force-fed so their livers swell up to 10 times their normal size. Besides gruesome video footage, AE’s India campaign also included testimonies from the Food and Agriculture Organization of United Nations and the European Scientific Committee on Animal Health and Animal Welfare that requested that the country’s minister of commerce ban foie gras. India is not the first nation to outlaw the unethical duck dish; Argentina, Denmark, Turkey, Germany, Ireland, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom have passed laws that prohibit the production and consumption of foie gras.