When Pittsburgh banned the sale of force-fed animal products in December 2023, opponents warned it would hurt restaurants. A year and a half later, we have the evidence. I recently spoke with Natalie Ahwesh, Executive Director of Humane Action Pennsylvania, the organization that led the campaign, to find out what actually happened.
“To our knowledge, no restaurants have really seen any negative impacts of the ban.”
Every restaurant that was serving foie gras before the ban passed has since stopped, and every one of them is still in business.
This kind of real-world track record is helpful to know for voters in cities currently considering foie gras bans. So I asked Natalie to walk me through the whole story: how Pittsburgh got it done, what the opposition looked like, and what enforcement has looked like since.
How the Pittsburgh Foie Gras Ban Passed
Humane Action Pennsylvania began working on the campaign in early 2023, building on a years-long relationship with City Councilman Bruce Kraus, who had championed animal welfare legislation before, including a bill that got the circus out of Pittsburgh. Knowing he was approaching retirement, they brought him the foie gras ban as a potential final legislative win. He was enthusiastic, and they brought in a second councilwoman who had a track record on animal welfare issues. Together, the two of them led the effort.
Originally, the foie gras ban was part of a broader package that also included a fur ban and a carriage horse ban. When those other proposals drew opposition from industry groups, the decision was made to set them aside and focus on foie gras, which faced the weakest opposition of the three. The foie gras ban passed 7 to 2.
There was some drama near the end. Hudson Valley Foie Gras threatened to sue, which made the mayor nervous enough that he considered a veto. Humane Action Pennsylvania worked to convince him otherwise. He ultimately declined to sign the bill, but in Pittsburgh, a bill that isn’t signed still goes into effect, which it did. Hudson Valley never followed through on the lawsuit threat, and it’s not clear they had real grounds to do so: unlike in New York, they have no farming operations in Pennsylvania, so the legal standing that might have applied in New York wasn’t there.
What Happened to Restaurants After the Ban
Opponents of foie gras bans routinely predict that restaurants will suffer and close. In Pittsburgh, that prediction had a year and a half to prove itself true. It didn’t. Every restaurant that was serving foie gras before the ban is still in business.
After passage, Humane Action Pennsylvania sent letters to every restaurant they could identify that had recently served force-fed foie gras, including places where they’d found foie gras listed on a Valentine’s Day special from the prior year on Yelp. Around 10 to 15 letters went out initially, and compliance was high. In the year and a half since, a few additional restaurants have received letters after members of the public flagged them for serving force-fed duck liver. That approach has worked consistently.
Enforcement action is currently pending against one restaurant that hasn’t responded to outreach, having come to Humane Action Pennsylvania’s attention very recently.
Humane Action Pennsylvania also put together a detailed enforcement packet in cooperation with The Humane League, anticipating a potential loophole: because the law bans force-fed products specifically, a restaurant could theoretically claim to be serving non-force-fed foie gras. The packet was designed to give city enforcement staff the right questions to ask and what to look for. They met with the relevant city officials in early 2025 to walk through it. A change in administration since then means some of that relationship-building has to be refreshed, but Natalie was optimistic about the new administration’s receptiveness.
Why Foie Gras, and Why Pittsburgh
One thing that stands out about the Pittsburgh campaign is how deliberately the target was chosen. When the broader legislative package ran into opposition, foie gras was the item with the clearest path forward. The industry numbers were also manageable: Humane Action Pennsylvania identified roughly 13 restaurants to monitor, with about 7 or 8 actively serving foie gras at the time of the campaign. That’s a small number of restaurants to bring into compliance, and it’s part of what made Pittsburgh a genuinely winnable fight. Making a real impact doesn’t always mean going up against the toughest opponent first.
What Pittsburgh Means for Foie Gras in Denver, DC, and Beyond
Pittsburgh is not the only city where voters are weighing in on foie gras. Denver voters will decide in November 2026 whether to pass the Prohibit Force-Feeding Birds Act, a ballot measure that would ban the sale of force-fed foie gras and prohibit the force-feeding of birds in the city. In Washington DC, Initiative 86, formally titled the Prohibiting Force-Feeding of Birds Act of 2026, is a ballot initiative that would do the same for the nation’s capital. Voters researching what a Denver foie gras ban or DC’s Initiative 86 would actually mean for local foie gras restaurants now have a real-world example to point to.
Pittsburgh’s restaurants didn’t close. The city did not go up in flames. What changed is that a cruel practice is no longer for sale there.
Portland, Oregon’s city council passed a similar foie gras ordinance in June 2026, adding another data point to a growing body of evidence that these bans are both enforceable and economically benign. California has had a ban on force-fed foie gras production on the books since 2004. The pattern across California, Pittsburgh, Portland, Denver, and DC points toward a national shift in how cities and voters think about foie gras, and about what kinds of products they want sold in their communities.
What Comes Next for Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh wasn’t the end of the road. Humane Action Pennsylvania is now working on a Philadelphia ban, and they have reason to believe Pennsylvania’s legislative trajectory could extend further. Years ago, before the Pittsburgh campaign even began, a state legislator told them: if you can get it done in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, I’ll carry a state bill.
That’s a significant promise, and one that Humane Action Pennsylvania is now actively working toward making good on.
For voters in cities where foie gras bans are being debated, Pittsburgh offers something simple and concrete: a real example of a ban that passed, that restaurants complied with, that caused no business closures, and that the city has moved on from without incident. The warnings about economic harm didn’t materialize. Restaurants stay open and stop serving foie gras. Bans work.