The foie gras industry has spent years trying to convince the world that cruelty can be luxury. But behind the white tablecloths and silver spoons, the image is cracking. Once a prized symbol of French cuisine, foie gras is now losing ground on every front. Production is falling, restaurants are cutting ties, and courts are increasingly siding with the public. What was once celebrated as indulgence is now becoming a liability.
The truth is simple: foie gras isn’t timeless. It is a relic from another era, and its decline has become impossible to ignore.
An Industry in Decline
Across Europe, where nearly 80 percent of the world’s foie gras is made, things are looking bleak. France, the largest producer, keeps losing ground. Bird flu outbreaks wiped out millions of ducks, and every “recovery” since has been weaker than the last.
Official figures tell part of the story. Between 2019 and 2023, output across the European Union fell by nearly a third. France, which once produced close to 19,000 tonnes annually, has not come close to those numbers in years. Producers keep hoping for a rebound, but their own trade journals admit that “winning back consumers” has become the real challenge.
Seasonal dependence has deepened the instability. In France, as much as 70 percent of foie gras is sold during the Christmas season, compressing demand into a few weeks of the year. The rest of the time, shelves sit still. That is not a picture of a thriving culinary tradition. It is a sign of an outdated delicacy kept alive by nostalgia.
Younger generations view the product differently. What their parents saw as luxury, they see as unnecessary cruelty. Chefs who once built reputations on foie gras are now quietly removing it from their menus, aware that diners increasingly associate it with animal suffering rather than sophistication.
Even in France, the spell is breaking
As the country’s “gastronomic identity,” foie gras is a title meant to insulate it from criticism. Yet even inside France, the conversation is changing.
In 2024, Le Monde reported that some foie gras factories were shutting down because there simply wasn’t enough demand to stay open. While vaccines helped farmers recover from bird flu, high prices and low enthusiasm continued. The government can hand out subsidies, but it can’t force people to keep buying something they no longer believe in.
The truth is, foie gras is losing its audience. Its defenders are getting older, and its customers fewer. The product now survives mostly on tradition and tourism, but those supports are crumbling. France can keep protecting foie gras on paper, but not in people’s hearts.
A brief history of the U.S. anti-foie gras movement
1990’s
1991: A PETA investigation at Hudson Valley Foie Gras in Upstate New York (then called Commonwealth Enterprises) brought the ethics of foie gras into American public consciousness for the first time. Undercover videos revealed birds struggling to breathe, unable to stand, and dying from ruptured organs. The footage shattered the industry’s narrative of “humane” production.
2000’s
2003: In Defense of Animals and Animal Protection and Rescue League, sued Sonoma Foie Gras for violating state animal cruelty laws. Public opinion strongly sided with the activists: a 2004 Zogby poll found that 77% of U.S. adults believed force-feeding ducks and geese for foie gras should be banned.
2004: The California state legislature passed the first foie gras ban in U.S. history (Senate Bill 1520) banning both force-feeding and the sale of products derived from it. It was set to take effect in 2012 after a long 7½-year phase-in period.
2005: The Illinois state senate’s Executive Committee took note and advanced a “Force Fed Birds Act” to outlaw force-feeding and foie gras sales (even though Illinois had no foie gras farms). Similar bills were introduced in Massachusetts, New York, and Oregon around that time. While none of those early legislative attempts outside California were successful, they built crucial momentum.
2006: Chicago became the first U.S. city to ban foie gras after a successful city council vote led by Chicago Alderman Joe Moore. Unfortunately, Chicago’s then-mayor openly mocked the foie gras ban as “the silliest law” council had ever passed. Chefs staged acts of defiance: a few Chicago restaurateurs began offering “underground” foie gras or giving it away free to thumb their noses at the law. Shortly after, the Illinois Restaurant Association (headed by a Chicago council member) mobilized to overturn the law.
2007: Wolfgang Puck (one of America’s most famous chefs) eliminated foie gras from all of his restaurants and catering operations after years of pressure campaigning by Farm Sanctuary and Humane World for Animals. By the late 2000s, Costco, Target, Safeway, and other grocery retailers had also stopped selling foie gras.
2008: The Illinois Restaurant Association (headed by a Chicago council member) mobilized to repeal the Chicago foie gras ban (sadly, of the 48 aldermen who had originally backed the ban, only 6 voted against repealing it). During that same year, Humane World for Animals (formerly HSUS), Farm Sanctuary, and others (unsuccessfully) petitioned the state’s New York Department of Agriculture to declare foie gras an “adulterated” (diseased) product unfit for sale, since force-feeding causes a pathological fatty liver.
2010’s
2012: As California’s foie gras ban was close to taking effect, over 100 high-end chefs signed an open petition protesting the California ban and even proposing “humane” foie gras standards as an alternative. Many restaurants held lavish “farewell to foie gras” dinners that spring, attempting to sell as much of the delicacy as possible before the law kicked in. Some chefs frankly admitted they planned to ignore the ban or find loopholes.
2013: Mercy For Animals released a shocking undercover video from inside Hudson Valley Foie Gras. The MFA investigation revealed fully conscious ducks being shackled upside-down for slaughter with throats cut, and dead ducks thrown into trash bins like garbage. MFA’s led a pressure campaign urging Amazon to stop selling foie gras (unsuccessfully, however, as foie gras can still be found on Amazon.)
2019: Voters for Animal Rights built a coalition that included organizations like Farm Sanctuary, the ASPCA, and Humane World for Animals (formerly HSUS), and led a successful campaign to ban foie gras sales in New York City. After rallies, petition drives, and even support from some NYC council members who visited foie gras farms, the New York City Council voted overwhelmingly (42–6) to ban the sale of foie gras in restaurants and grocery stores in all five boroughs, with the ban set to take effect in 2022.
2022: Hudson Valley and La Belle sued, arguing that NYC’s law was unconstitutional and only the state can regulate poultry products. Meanwhile, industry lobbyists pushed the New York State Department of Agriculture to step in, and the agency claimed the ban violated state law. That move set the stage for the courts to officially reverse the NYC foie gras ban in 2024, ruling that New York City can’t overrule the state on agricultural issues.
2020’s
2023: The city of Pittsburgh banned foie gras thanks to the work of Humane Action Pennsylvania. Despite opposition from a few restaurant owners, the Pittsburgh City Council voted 7–2 to ban the sale and production of foie gras within city limits. Other cities in PA, including Philadelphia, are now considering similar measures.
2024: Hai hospitality (an award winning hotel and restaurant chain based in Texas) dropped foie gras after after a combination of protests, in-person disruptions, home demos, and a PETA petition that sent over 40,000 emails to the restaurant.
2025: Brookline, Massachusetts became the latest city to ban foie gras sales, initiated by two local high school students who gathered petition signatures and built a coalition. Despite some pushback from a few local businesses and the Chamber of Commerce, the ordinance passed with 114 votes in favor to 79 against. Less than a month ago, following over 200 protests staged in 28 US and Canadian cities organized by Duck Alliance and Animal Activism Collective, Omni Hotels (a company valued at over $3 billion) removed foie gras from all 50+ restaurants in its multi-state portfolio and finally committed to a foie-gras free policy.
Each of these victories proves that public compassion, once mobilized, is stronger than tradition.
Why foie gras is losing cultural legitimacy
The reputational risk outweighs any culinary reward: Restaurants gain little revenue from a small appetizer that sparks protests, petitions, vandalism risk, and negative press. Removing foie gras is easy, and it earns goodwill. That is why you see luxury retailers and Michelin-starred chefs phasing it out.
Public opinion keeps hardening against force-feeding: According to a YouGov poll, commissioned in June 2023 by Animal Equality, nearly nine in ten Brits are in favour of a ban on the importation of foie gras made by force-feeding (86%, excluding the ‘don’t know’ responses). Most people can agree that force-feeding is inhumane treatment.
The industry is fragile: A product that relies on a few regions, a short selling season, and a handful of producers. A single outbreak or legal ruling can cripple supply. Add to that a cultural shift away from animal exploitation, and the foundations of the industry begin to collapse.
Tradition does not justify suffering. Societies evolve, and the most enduring customs are those that adapt to new moral standards. Force-feeding is already illegal across most of Europe, including Italy, Germany, and the Netherlands. Norway banned force-feeding for foie gras production in 1974. Only five EU member states (France, Spain, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Belgium’s Wallonia region) still allow it. Israel outlawed the practice entirely in 2003 after its Supreme Court ruled that force-feeding violated national animal protection laws.
Where the foie gras movement goes next
After two decades of progress, the challenge now is implementation. Lasting change will come from targeted laws, market leverage, and continued public awareness that keeps the issue visible and politically relevant.
1. Keep passing strong local laws
California’s model proved that well-crafted legislation can withstand years of lawsuits. The next wave will come city by city. Pro-Animal Future’s chapters in Denver, Portland, and Washington, D.C., are working to pass citywide ordinances to prohibit the sale of force-fed foie gras. We hope that these initiatives will set the stage for broader national reform.
2. Focus on Achilles’ heelS
Only a small number of producers and prestige buyers sustain foie gras’s public image. By focusing campaigns on high-visibility restaurants and retailers, advocates can dismantle the illusion of luxury. Over the past two years, more than 100 U.S. venues have removed foie gras entirely, thanks to targeted campaigns and persistent outreach. Due to the recent wins, pressure campaigns targeting businesses that sell foie gras will likely become more widespread.
3. Keep telling the truth, again and again
While many Americans already know about how foie gras is made, there are still many who don’t. That’s why a core element of our ballot initiative campaigns is outreach and education. Every conversation at a farmers market, every petition signature, every commercial, every poster, and every city council testimony moves us closer to a world where foie gras disappears for good.
4. Build momentum towards bigger wins
Foie gras is a weak link in factory farming. It has low public support, it is a clear example of unnecessary suffering, and opposing it crosses ideological lines. Banning foie gras opens the door to deeper discussions about broader food reform and the urgency of ending factory farming.
Here’s 3 ways you can take action today to help continue the fight to end foie gras, for good:
- Sign Pro-Animal Future’s online petition to ask elected officials in 3 major U.S. cities to end the sale of foie gras.
- Sign up to volunteer to help pass our anti-foie-gras campaigns (in person, or remotely).
- Donate to fund advertising campaigns to pass our concurrent ballot initiatives to ban foie gras in Washington D.C. and Denver.
Pro-Animal Future is a grassroots political movement working to evolve beyond factory farming through local political action. [Learn more about us →]