Animal rights activists sue biggest US foie gras distributor

NEW YORK (AP) — A day after the New York City Council voted to ban the sale of foie gras (fwah-GRAH’), animal rights activists sued the biggest U.S. distributor of the French delicacy for inhumane treatment of ducks.

Voters For Animal Rights, a New York-based nonprofit, filed the lawsuit in Brooklyn federal court Thursday. Activists accuse New Jersey-based D’Artagnan (dar-tah-NYAH’) of “deceptive marketing and advertising of foie gras products,” made from fattened duck livers.

The company says birds at two farms outside New York City are fed in a humane way through a plastic tube workers slip down their throats.

Supporters of the bill that passed Wednesday say the force-feeding involves animal cruelty, enlarging livers as much as 10 times the normal size.

Selling foie gras will be illegal starting in 2022.