Wolfgang Puck Co. Bans Foie Gras

[johnnyd]

Reprinted by permission from Sustainable Food News .com

Wolfgang Puck Companies Thursday laid out a nine-point animal welfare program that bans foie gras from its eateries and “aims to stop the worst practices associated with factory farming.”

The new initiative also calls for pulling crated veal and pork off menus and committing the companies’ eateries to source only certified-sustainable seafood.

The company-wide program implements over the next few months a series of animal welfare improvements for units operating under the Wolfgang Puck Companies umbrella, including 14 fine dining group restaurants such as Spago, more than 80 Gourmet Express fast-casual restaurants, and 43 catering venues nationwide.

Puck estimates 10 million customers dined at his company’s eateries last year.

“Our guests are interested in the same environmental issues that have long concerned us -- sustainable farming and fishing, humane treatment of farm animals and reducing the amount of hormones, antibiotics, preservatives and pesticides in the food we eat,” the world-famous chef Wolfgang Puck said. “They want to know where the produce comes from and how the animals are raised. We want a better standard for living creatures. It's as simple as that.”

With the help of suppliers such as Coleman Natural Foods, Strauss Veal and Snake River Farms, the companies also pledge to “make every effort to shift the majority of all food ingredients beyond meat and fish to all-natural and certified organic.”

The companies said all-natural means no added hormones, antibiotics or preservatives, and that all animals are vegetarian fed and raised under sustainable production and raising practices.

The new nine-point program was created in partnership with the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) and Farm Sanctuary, the nation's biggest farm animal shelter and advocacy organization.

The companies call the initiative a “first-of-its-kind humane farm animal treatment program,” and said its companies are the first food establishments in full compliance with all of HSUS' animal welfare recommendations.

The nine points include:

1. Eliminate foie gras from all Wolfgang Puck menus

2. Eliminate the use of eggs from cage-free laying hens confined in battery cages and only use and serve eggs from cage-free hens not confined to battery cages

3. Refuse to serve pork from producers who confine breeding sows in gestation crates

4. Refuse to serve veal from producers that confine their calves in individual veal crates

5. Serve only certified-sustainable seafood

6. Serve only chicken and turkey meat from farms that are third-party audited for compliance with “progressive” animal welfare standards

7. Send a letter to suppliers regarding methods of poultry slaughter that involve less suffering

8. Companies’ eateries will feature vegetarian options on its menus

9. Wolfgang Puck will feature certified organic selections on its menus

Among the other nine points of the program, Puck will send a letter to the companies' chicken and turkey meat suppliers indicating its interest in Controlled Atmosphere Killing, a slaughter method involving dramatically less suffering than typical methods. Wolfgang Puck merchandising programs will further support the customer's ability to get involved with the brand philosophy.

The companies also commit to sourcing from farmers and purveyors who have passed both company and third-party audits supporting the humane treatment of animals.

However, the companies will not use stun guns to kill lobsters but continue to cut them in half while they're still alive. Also, skate and Russian caviar, both of which Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch has on its "avoid" list, will remain on the companies’ menus.

All companies will have the program integrated with operations by the end of the year. The 14 Wolfgang Puck-owned fine dining group restaurants are already compliant.

Possibly the most significant statement of the program, is its ban on the use of foie gras, which is French for "fatty liver". Foie gras is produced by placing a feeding tube down the throats of ducks and geese causing the birds' livers to expand up to 10 times their normal size. The liver is turned into pate.

Farm Sanctuary has convinced nearly 1,000 U.S. restaurants to sign pledges not to sell foie gras because of humane concerns. The Watkins Glen, N.Y. group also led a campaign in Chicago to ban the sale of foie gras, which resulted in a citywide ban on foie gras sales since August.

The group has dogged Wolfgang Puck Companies for years, protesting its use of foie gras and other animals raised in confinement. The Farm Sanctuary also launched wolfgangpuckcruelty.org - a website that was taken down last summer, and organized a leafleting campaign in front of Puck's restaurants.

"Farm Sanctuary is very pleased that Wolfgang Puck has taken such impressive steps in the right direction," said Gene Baur, president of Farm Sanctuary. "We are grateful to see a chef of Wolfgang Puck's stature take steps away from factory farming by eliminating several egregious practices. His statement is consistent with a growing wave of concern over the way farm animals are treated."

Puck said he isn't responding to pressure from the group, and that a major health crisis among U.S. children prompted him to implement the program.

"I am concerned about the increase in diseases such as diabetes and obesity in our children,” he said. “I believe we have a responsibility to teach young kids not only about nutrition, but about where food comes from, and provide them with healthy food they like to eat. Providing children with healthier foods that are free of hormones, antibiotics, preservatives and pesticides is truly a step in the right direction to ensure the wellness of further generations.  My companies are switching entirely to all-natural and [uSDA-certified] organic animal products and produce because they help keep us and our children well," Puck said.

The companies, in partnership with the Las Vegas Clark County School District, are initiating a program to better understand the needs of children and their taste and menu preferences when it comes to affordable, fresh, all-natural, organic dishes.

The program is expected to result in more attractive and healthier school menus, as well as better sourcing standards for Clark County students and other interested school districts across the country.

The companies will use its television activities, newspaper columns, book publications and media partnerships to educate and consumers about how to use natural, organic and humanely treated ingredients.

[docsconz]

Most of this is laudable. The only part of this that I have a problem with is the first part - banning of all foie gras. Obviously there is a huge difference of opinion regarding whether or not foie gras production practices are inherently cruel. While some farms may be cuel with their practices, I do not believe that it is inherently so and that people continue to anthropomorphize to an extreme. Basically, I think Puck caved.

[pansophia]

My first taste of foie gras was at Puck's 20.21 here in Minneapolis on my wedding anniversary. My last taste will be anywhere but as I agree that Puck caved and have informed them as such and that I will be voting with my dollars elsewhere.

I applaud any move towards ethical producers of food but I feel it would have been better for him to find an ethical source of foie gras and support a change in the entire industry.

Stop making my dining choices for me!

[larrylee]

I'm with doc on this one. Everything's laudable except the ban on foie.

[Chris Amirault]

Setting aside the tired, tired, tired discussion about foie gras (which has been beaten to death on eG Forums for a long while), I'm struck by the attempt here to toss around weight regarding what he considers ethical food practices. Let's assume this isn't merely cynical marketing for a moment. Does Puck's empire expand far enough for this to have a significant effect, or is it the equivalent of the local/organic/sustainable clause at the bottom of that neighborhood joint you like? I mean, 10,000,000 people is a lot of people, and the businesses that serve those people connect to loads of suppliers.

[docsconz]

Clearly it is a big operation fronted by a big name and will have more of an impact than a neighborhood restaurant wood. What upsets me about the inclusion of foie gras, especially the way that it was done, is that it takes a very polarizing issue and adds it to others that are much more less polarizing but yet hungry for a pulpit and suddenly paints those issues with the same brush as the polarizing issue. Thus plenty of people who agree with those issues but disagree on foie gras will have a hard time accepting the entire message thereby limiting whatever beneficial effect Puck's support may have given those issues.

[FabulousFoodBabe]

[snip] Thus plenty of people who agree with those issues but disagree on foie gras will have a hard time accepting the entire message thereby limiting whatever beneficial effect Puck's support may have given those issues.

←

Exactly.

It's obviously a business decision, and to my mind, a dumbing-down. And now I have to find a different place for our first night in Maui next week. No more Spago for the Babe family.

[Fat Guy]

Reprinted by permission from Sustainable Food News .com

7. Send a letter to suppliers regarding methods of poultry slaughter that involve less suffering

8. Companies’ eateries will feature vegetarian options on its menus

←

Wow, this is really brave stuff. They're going to send a letter. That's pretty serious. Next thing you know they'll make a phone call or even call a meeting.

Vegetarian options on menus? That's pretty radical. What, you mean like pizza?

[ghostrider]

What upsets me about the inclusion of foie gras, especially the way that it was done, is that it takes a very polarizing issue and adds it to others that are much more less polarizing but yet hungry for a pulpit and suddenly paints those issues with the same brush as the polarizing issue. Thus plenty of people who agree with those issues but disagree on foie gras will have a hard time accepting the entire message thereby limiting whatever beneficial effect Puck's support may have given those issues.

←

I thnk all of these issues are polarizing, just to different people in different ways. If folks can't separate them, too bad for them. Martin Luther King got slapped with the same argument. Not to put WP in the same league with MLK.

I am more interested in the direct quotation from Puck toward the end of the piece. He seems to be saying that his new-found opposition to foie gras is based on his concern for childhood diabetes & obesity. Yes, all those children gorging themselves on foie gras are a major problem these days.

What he really seems to be doing is sidestepping any questions on this particular issue. That I respect less than any specific position he might take.

[Fat Guy]

"I am concerned about the increase in diseases such as diabetes and obesity in our children,” he said. “I believe we have a responsibility to teach young kids not only about nutrition, but about where food comes from, and provide them with healthy food they like to eat. Providing children with healthier foods that are free of hormones, antibiotics, preservatives and pesticides is truly a step in the right direction to ensure the wellness of further generations.  My companies are switching entirely to all-natural and [uSDA-certified] organic animal products and produce because they help keep us and our children well," Puck said.

This is exactly why they need to stop serving foie gras! Just the other day, I was visiting elementary schools in the South Bronx, and all the kids were wandering the halls eating foie gras kebabs. It was terrible. You could see their arteries hardening, the pounds accumulating, the diabetes, the asthma, the depression combined with hyperactivity. They need to replace that stuff with Wolfgang Puck pizzas so the Bronx can rise again.

[JohnL]

Reprinted by permission from Sustainable Food News .com

7. Send a letter to suppliers regarding methods of poultry slaughter that involve less suffering

8. Companies’ eateries will feature vegetarian options on its menus

←

Wow, this is really brave stuff. They're going to send a letter. That's pretty serious. Next thing you know they'll make a phone call or even call a meeting.

Vegetarian options on menus? That's pretty radical. What, you mean like pizza?

←

Before anyone forms any opinions on this, I would suggest the consideration of the motivation behind these efforts.

The non profit group Farm Sanctuary has a goal of eliminating the "use" of animals for any purpose. Those who believe that these people are promoting the ethical treatment of farm animals are naive at best.

The real goal is the complete abolition of livestock agriculture.

Here's a quote from a former investigator for the group David cantor: "Everyone who agrees unnecessary animal suffering should be ended must eat no animal food products."

Their website states somewhat matter of factly:"these animals are our friends not our food."

Interestingly, the obesity issue has become a tool to leverage their political action. It is no coincidence that the head of People for Science in the Public interest is an avowed vegetarian.

Puck was obviously brow beaten into submission via a relentless campaign targeting him by the Farm Sanctuary folks.

Well meaning people like Charlie Trotter buy into and support foie gras bans. I wonder if Charlie has an inkling that the people behind the movement to get foie gras off his menu are really intent on turning his restaurant into a vegetarian establishment.

Again, I suggest people look into these groups and determine their real goals and learn about their tactics and then decide if they are comfortable in applauding their efforts or worse the results of their efforts.

farmsanctuary

[little ms foodie]

It's a total cave. Here in Seattle there are more than a few restaurants who only serve organic sustainable food- but they don't make huge statements about it or send letters or "ban" other foods. They just do what they do.

I agree with pansophia- stop making my dining decisions. I'm grown up enough to make my own. If you want to get kick backs by making grandiose speaches and statements have at it....but my dining dollars will go to others who make their own choices!

[Jon Savage]

I heard an interview w/ him on NPR yesterday... Sheesh.

clicky

[FoodMan]

Clearly it is a big operation fronted by a big name and will have more of an impact than a neighborhood restaurant wood. What upsets me about the inclusion of foie gras, especially the way that it was done, is that it takes a very polarizing issue and adds it to others that are much more less polarizing but yet hungry for a pulpit and suddenly paints those issues with the same brush as the polarizing issue. Thus plenty of people who agree with those issues but disagree on foie gras will have a hard time accepting the entire message thereby limiting whatever beneficial effect Puck's support may have given those issues.

←

AND he does the very unlaudable act of placing it as number 1 on the list. As if to say...looky here I am banning Foi Gras too. sad really.

[Kent D]

And maybe I'm just being cheap and cynical, but won't all those changes in supply practices probably result in higher product cost and higher menu prices? Not that people who eat at Spago mind a couple more dollars an entree to feel good about eating free-range piggies.

I don't eat foie gras, and I think providing vegetarian options and environmentally-safe ingredients are a good thing, but blaming it on obese kids who aren't even eating in his restaurants is a cop-out. If you're that concerned about health, cut back on the fats and reduce portion size, don't use kids to deflect criticism of your business practices.

[ghostrider]

It is no coincidence that the head of People for Science in the Public interest is an avowed vegetarian.

←

Are you speaking of the Center for Science in the Public Interest? By "head" do you mean Kathleen O'Reilly, or....?

[Raoul Duke]

Wait till he get's a load of the "organic spinach" , with free range pig droppings from Cali that the rest of the nation loved.

[larrylee]

There's an op-ed in today's NYT about Puck's action.

Mr. Puck is not the first chef and restaurateur to decide to forgo factory-farmed meat and eggs. You can find a few restaurants upholding these standards in nearly every major American city. But Mr. Puck runs an empire, not a restaurant. His outreach is enormous, and so is his potential educational impact. In fact, he has come late to this decision, perhaps because it affects a corporation, not the menu of a single restaurant.

Aside from the amusing comments about letter writing and the ban of foie gras (including the following comment from a friend - "News flash: Wolfang Puck thinks he matters"), I was thinking that the other points about humane conditions for animals were well intentioned. Like the op-ed states, I believe that most people in the US are "appallingly ignorant of how their food is produced." Meat does not come from the farm in plastic wrapped white foam packages.

However, note this curious passage:

Many diners assume that most of the cruelty in factory farming lies in producing foie gras and veal. But Americans consume vastly more chicken, turkey, pork and beef than foie gras and veal, and most of the creatures those meats come from are raised in ways that are ethically and environmentally unsound.

Funny, the banning of foie gras is the FIRST line item in the nine points outlined in post 1. Not only that, but there's no distinguishing artisanally produced foie gras versus industrially produced foie gras.

Couple that with link JohnL provided at the bottom of post 11 and... man, that really gets my goat. Liver. Whatever.

Harboring cows, chickens, pigs, and other select farm “refugees,” the animal rights group Farm Sanctuary hides a rabid agenda behind those farm animals. The organization has grown from selling tofu dogs at Grateful Dead concerts into a multi-million dollar enterprise committed to the systematic abolition of livestock agriculture. And its political capital has grown even faster than its budget. Farm Sanctuary activists have already scored several victories in their quest to cripple livestock farms, and nothing -- not even electoral fraud convictions -- seems to slow their pursuit of that goal.

[...]

In California and New York, Farm Sanctuary pushed for wholesale bans on the production of foie gras (fatty duck or goose liver) in order to shut down a single family farm in each state. Most absurdly, in New Jersey the group successfully lobbied for a ban on the most common veal-farming techniques -- even though there isn’t a single veal farm in the Garden State.

[...]

Farm Sanctuary stacks the odds further against an informed electorate with an even more deplorable tactic: it never gives the full story, knowing that the urban audience for its propaganda doesn’t know much about livestock agriculture.

For example, in its New Jersey campaign against veal, Farm Sanctuary accused (non-existent) veal farmers of denying their calves fiber and iron. In fact, they don’t give calves fiber or iron because those nutrients aren’t healthy for a calf’s developing digestive system.

It just goes on and on and on.

However, there is one passage that caught my attention.

Gestation crates do limit farrowing sows’ freedom of movement -- so that they can’t roll over and crush their nursing piglets.

I can't help but think that sows have somehow figured out how to move without rolling over and crushing their piglets.

Anyway, perhaps New York should ban Wolfgang Puck. Can we get that on the ballot?

Edited March 26, 2007 by larrylee (log)

[larrylee]

The gestation crate comment made me pause - so I dug a little deeper about the "Center for Consumer Freedom."

There's little love lost between SourceWatch (part of the Center for Media & Democracy) and CCF.

SourceWatch on CCF.

CCF on the CM&D

Wikipedia on the CCF.

And finally, it's a little weird that the letter-to-the-editor that Farm Sanctuary investigator David Cantor wrote to the Kansas City Star can't be found in their archives, nor is a link to that story referenced within the activistcash web site. That said, it's clear on Farm Sanctuary's web site that they are very much against any form of foie gras (which is my primary gripe about this news item).

[JohnL]

Larry,

The Center for Consumer Freedom by and large represents an opposing view to that presented by groups like the CSPI and Farm Sanctuary. Their case should be taken at least as seriously as that of the other so called interest groups.

You seem to give groups like farm sanctuary more than just the "benefit of the doubt."

If Farm Sanctuary and other such groups were just about providing information and promoting awareness then they would not be resorting to campaigns that include harassment and legal blackmail via law suits etc.

They would simply state their case.

One fact is that Farm Sanctuary has been convicted of a felony in their attempt to illegally influence a local election in Florida.

It is also very obvious that simply helping to promote better industry standards they are really pushing an agenda that would result in forced vegetarianism. Not for nothing does their web site state as a primary founding tenet:" ...farm animals. At farm Sanctuary these animals are our friends not our food."

If you take the time to read the various statements from many different sources, made by the founder who uses two names (I find this rather odd but let's give him the benefit....) as well as those made by his ex- wife and other members/officers present and past it is very clear where these folks would like to go. Their best case scenerio if you will.

I can provide numerous links to groups and individuals who "expose" Source watch"--really Larry this can go on endlessly. By the way, for the vast and quite well substantiated case made by the Center for Consumer freedom, all you and these other special interest groups can come up with is some nit picks, really--I am just as skeptical of them as I am Farm Sanctuary!

I for one, have read through all the various sources and viewpoints (most of them anyway) and have come to my own conclusion.

Using no second source material I can assess Farm, Sanctuary based on their own statements and their tactics as well as the public record. My conclusion, they are a radical group employing radical (and sometimes illegal) tactics to unduly influence the food choices we have based on the belief that animals and human beings are equal. But hey, don't listen to me, just read what they say.

Edited March 27, 2007 by JohnL (log)

[Bill Miller]

Let's not forget that tomato "emergency room" commercial. The ethical treatment of tomatoes has been totally ignored. The have feelings too and don't like to be squeezed. I'm basically tired of all this touchy feely stuff. We are at the top of the food chain unless we swim in the water with sharks. Puck is too Hollywood for me.

[JohnL]

Bill

Tomatoes do like to be squeezed but only gently and accompanied by kind words in soft lighting conditions with a string quartet in the background!!!

Hollywood? I believe that Alec Baldwin is a contributor to Farm Sanctuary. (good actor but...)

I rest my case.

[paulraphael]

I think it's great. I don't expect to agree with every detail of a comprehensive policy change. The fact is he's doing something, and the broad strokes of it are significant.

Any time anyone responds to pressure (assuming that's a factor here) people resistant to change shout out "where do we draw the line! what's next! now we're on a slippery slope!" However, these arguments could easily be used against ANY change. I don't believe for a minute that a restauranteur supporting sustainable agriculture is going to somehow lead us toward a vegan police state.

[WHT]

I don't think he has thought about hiw this will change such things as price and distributuon. He is spred too thin and will have to have his own distribution centers or his supplers will kill him by price structure.

[Megan Blocker]

I don't think he has thought about hiw this will change such things as price and distributuon. He is spred too thin and will have to have his own distribution centers or his supplers will kill him by price structure.

←

You think?

I find it hard to believe that someone with a large business that's been relatively successful for a long period of time wouldn't think about this stuff...he may have come to conclusions that differ from yours, but I can't imagine he hasn't at least researched it.

As someone said up-topic, it's not like he's on the cutting edge of the trend and hasn't had time to think it through...

ETA: That "someone" was the NYT Op-Ed.

Edited March 27, 2007 by Megan Blocker (log)