Europe
"Until new scientific evidence on alternative methods and their welfare aspects is available", the production of foie gras is prohibited by treaty except for "where it is current practice" among 35 countries bound by the Council of Europe's European Convention for the Protection of Animals kept for Farming Purposes.
The force feeding of animals for non-medical purposes, essential to current foie gras production practices, is explicitly prohibited by specific laws in six of nine Austrian provinces, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Norway, Poland, or following interpretation of general animal protection laws in Ireland, Sweden, Switzerland, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. However, foie gras can still be imported into and purchased in these countries. Most of these countries don't currently produce foie gras, nor have they been in the past. Thus, these bans have stopped actual foie gras production in very few countries.
Turkey banned force feeding animals on June 24, 2004 when it enacted Animal Protection Law No. 1/323.
Since 1997, the number of European countries producing foie gras has halved. Only five countries still produce foie gras: Belgium, Bulgaria, Spain, France and Hungary.
In France, the fattening is achieved through gavage (force-feeding) corn, according to French law. French law states that "Foie gras belongs to the protected cultural and gastronomical heritage of France."
Read more about this topic: Foie Gras Controversy, Controversy, Legal Status
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