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York Foie Gras


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Some of you might have seen this. The headline story is that a York Councillor is calling for the banning of foie gras from the city. The real story is that an opposition councillor is getting some publicity. I can think of only one restaurant in York that serves the stuff, though Garry I'm sure knows more...

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/legal/article2180789.ece

Incidentally, as a failed journo, these things always amuse me. Compare and contrast this morning's national story with yesterday's regional story in the York Press,

http://www.yorkpress.co.uk/search/display....eaking_move.php

Now, is this a) plagiarism, b) lazy journalism or c) simple copying of a press release?

It no longer exists, but it was lovely.

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Bertie

As a York resident I've chosen (d) - a complete load of rubbish that makes me want to kill local councillors even more than i wanted to kill them before!

You are right that this guy is looking for publicity but judging from the e-mails he has posted in response to comments from locals on the york press web site he seems genuinely committed to this cause, i thought only the Americans could come up with something as socially submissive and ridiculous as this.

I'm off to J Baker's on saturday invariably there will be plenty of foie on the menu as there is on other City of York menus (Blue Bicycle, Meltons etc.)

I also have a house in Burgundy we can eat what we want there :smile:

BTW try buying veal in york, does anybody know where in york i can buy veal?

Regards

David

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If they do ban it i can't quite see that  it is going to make much difference, york not exactly being a hot bed of foie gras consumption!

Gary i agree but it's not the point though is it? You dont want to be told which ingredients you can or can't use in your business, it is afterall your business, whether people want to eat it or not is another thing. Selling the product is a judgement YOU make not some jerk of a councillor.

BTW are you full on Sunday?

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Didn't know if anyone knew, but there are websites out there listing which restaurants are serving the foie gras that they want to ban so much, and there are some very aggresively active protestors too!!

Can't say it's stopping us though!!

http://www.allium.uk.net

http://alliumfood.wordpress.com/ the alliumfood blog

"Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, champagne in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming - Whey hey what a ride!!!, "

Sarah Poli, Firenze, Kibworth Beauchamp

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If they do ban it i can't quite see that  it is going to make much difference, york not exactly being a hot bed of foie gras consumption!

I don't know if we have any lawyers on here, but is it actually legal for them to ban it?

My understanding is that, apart from any temporary bans on "unsafe" products (such as beef when BSE is a worry), it is not legal for any individual EU country to ban a product that can legally be sold elsewhere in the EU. In other words, neither York nor the UK can ban Foie Gras while it is legal to be sold in a country such as France.

I am quite prepared to be told that my understanding is wrong, but this is certainly what I had heard in the context of other goods, such as cycles that do not comply with the relevant British Standard(s).

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If they do ban it i can't quite see that  it is going to make much difference, york not exactly being a hot bed of foie gras consumption!

I don't know if we have any lawyers on here, but is it actually legal for them to ban it?

My understanding is that, apart from any temporary bans on "unsafe" products (such as beef when BSE is a worry), it is not legal for any individual EU country to ban a product that can legally be sold elsewhere in the EU. In other words, neither York nor the UK can ban Foie Gras while it is legal to be sold in a country such as France.

No, that's the point I made in the original post. While it appears that he's calling for banning, he obviously can't ban it (and neither can the city council as a whole) so is calling for restaurants not to stock it.

Which will be about as much use in stopping people eating it as a storm in a chocolate teapot

It no longer exists, but it was lovely.

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If they do ban it i can't quite see that  it is going to make much difference, york not exactly being a hot bed of foie gras consumption!

I don't know if we have any lawyers on here, but is it actually legal for them to ban it?

My understanding is that, apart from any temporary bans on "unsafe" products (such as beef when BSE is a worry), it is not legal for any individual EU country to ban a product that can legally be sold elsewhere in the EU. In other words, neither York nor the UK can ban Foie Gras while it is legal to be sold in a country such as France.

No, that's the point I made in the original post. While it appears that he's calling for banning, he obviously can't ban it (and neither can the city council as a whole) so is calling for restaurants not to stock it.

Which will be about as much use in stopping people eating it as a storm in a chocolate teapot

What is interesting though (to me) is that it is illegal to produce the product in the UK due to the methods of production yet the government are happy for us to import and eat the end result. This is a hypocritical peice of legislation along the lines of the laws that have decimated the pig farming industry where pig farmers in the UK are forced to adhere to very strict welfare regulations in respect of the rearing and slaughtering of pigs yet on the otherhand the government willingly allows the import of pig products from countries that don't have such regulations and therefore costs, ultimately this prices out the UK product from the GENERAL HIGH VOLUME market place.

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