After multiple months of debates and delays, Portland City Council passed a foie gras ban Thursday, June 4. The ordinance prohibits foie gras, or fatty liver that is produced by force-feeding ducks or geese, from being served in restaurants and sold in retail stores within city limits. Those who violate the ordinance can, after a first warning, be fined $1,000 to $5,000; the ordinance takes effect 180 days after it is enacted. With this ordinance, Portland joins California, New York City, Pittsburgh, Brookline, MA, and over 20 countries that have passed similar bans.
The Mercury covered the City Council’s first reading of the ordinance in late April, when over 75 people showed up to testify. Some of them were restaurant owners or industry advocates, including Le Pigeon’s Gabriel Rucker, who has been serving foie gras profiteroles since the restaurant opened in 2006. Many of those against the ban were concerned how it would affect Portland’s economy, which is largely driven by its hospitality industry, and urged the city council to focus on other pressing issues. Meanwhile, many of the people supporting the ban were animal rights activists wearing bright green “Pro Animal Oregon” t-shirts, who felt Portland should take a stand against animal cruelty.
The ordinance was sponsored by District 4 Councilor Mitch Green. It was later co-sponsored by Council President Jamie Dunphy, and District 3 Councilors Angelita Morillo, and Tiffany Koyama Lane. The legislation passed 7-5, with Councilor Steve Novick, often considered a swing vote on Council, ultimately voting for the ordinance. In addition to the sponsors, Councilors Candace Avalos and Sameer Kanal also supported the ordinance from its early days and ultimately voted aye.
“This was not one of my high priorities. …I’m following the lead of the overwhelming majority of city councilors in New York City, the epicenter of fine dining in America, and Pittsburgh, not known as a wacky liberal city, in saying that I just cannot say that I feel like it’s okay to force feed an animal to produce an expensive delicacy, and I know that reasonable people can disagree, it’s an emotional issue,” said Novick.
Questions still remain regarding how the ban will be enforced. Multnomah County, not the city, handles licensing and health inspections for restaurants. “At this point there has not been a conversation with the county about [the] county handling the implementation, so if this were to pass, the city of Portland may entertain an IGA (intergovernmental agreement) or a conversation with the county on how to actually handle the enforcement side of this,” said Green.
Eric Engstrom, director of the Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability, spoke about the potential cost of enforcing the ban, particularly in the first six months to a year after its implementation. “Because there’s not too many restaurants [that serve foie gras], we don’t anticipate there’d be very many complaints on this—that would not likely be consequential to a budgeting perspective,” he said. “That said, having this minor role in a number of different things does add up. So, ideally, you would consider the financial consequences when you add a program like that to a bureau. It’s definitely not hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, and it’s probably not $100 a year either, but there is a small cost, and it would be something that we would have to assign someone to do.”