France angry at US foie gras ban

BBC ^ | 2-25-04

[Indy Pendance]

France's agriculture minister has defended French food safety rules, saying a US ban on imports of French meat products was "unjustified".

The one-month ban on meat products such as sausages, hams and foie gras was imposed on Tuesday on safety grounds.

It came after a team of American farm officials visited 11 exporters in France to check safety standards.

But French farms minister Herve Gaymard has said that food standards in France are higher than in the US.

'Higher standards'

"Our reaction is obviously not to be happy," said Mr Gaymard.

"We can't understand this decision because in Europe, and in France, we have the highest safety standards for exports in the world, and moreover higher than the United States," he added.

Mr Gaymard has said he wants to see the export of French meat products to the US restart "as soon as possible" and is hoping negotiations can achieve this.

Mr Gaymard took a last-minute trip to Washington on Monday to present the steps taken by French firms to comply with specific US standards.

"The Americans had already made their decision," Mr Gaymard told journalists on Wednesday.

European Union farm ministers will discuss the US move when they meet in March, according to EU health commissioner David Byrne.

The ban is for one month initially, but if it were to be extended it could damage trade worth more than 20m euros ($25m; £13.3m) annually, according to EU estimates.

'No retaliation'

The visit to France by the US Department of Agriculture team took place between 15 January and 5 February.

In addition to inspecting the 11 French firms licensed to export foie gras and other processed meat products to the US it toured the veterinary services that supervise the companies.

US agriculture officials have denied that the ban was in retaliation for an EU-wide block on US poultry and egg imports after a bird flu outbreak in Texas.

US Agriculture Department spokesman Steven Cohen said the visit to France was in response to concerns first raised in 1992. The US had found "repeated problems" with the 11 exporters, he said.

[Celantro]

>Why isn't PETA setting up headquarters over in Paris

They are! If you want to drive PETA crazy, enjoy fois gras. If you're anti French, make it American fois gras.

[Atlas Sneezed]

Just as some veal were once penned cruelly and mistreated, and the photos make it into PETA propaganda, most aren't. And there is no evidence that force-feeding is the rule for foie gras geese.

I LOVE foie gras!

[DonaldDuke]

And there is no evidence that force-feeding is the rule for foie gras geese.

Lol. Really?

Foie gras, a southwestern tradition

[Ken H]

There you have the reason for America beating the sh* out of the French in every field.

Their breakfast-- foie gras and crepes.

Our breakfast-- Steak and eggs!

[lawdude]

"They are! If you want to drive PETA crazy, enjoy fois gras. If you're anti French, make it American fois gras."

Buy some liver sausage or Braunschweiger [sp?] and drive ETA nutz!

[LibKill]

"Our reaction is obviously not to be happy," said Mr Gaymard.

Mr Gaymard, would you like a wedgie with your whine?

[gd124]

And there is no evidence that force-feeding is the rule for foie gras geese.

It is the force feeding that gives the liver it's particular flavour and texture (due to being diseased). You can't make it without force feeding.

[Atlas Sneezed]

Diseased?! You sound like PETA. It may be abnormally enlarged, but "disease" is a word with meaning.

[gd124]

Disease is a word with meaning, and fois gras clearly fills that meaning:

disease - A pathological condition of a part, organ, or system of an organism resulting from various causes, such as infection, genetic defect, or environmental stress, and characterized by an identifiable group of signs or symptoms.

BTW, the comparable condition in humans is called "Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease".

[Atlas Sneezed]

disease - A pathological condition...

---

I'm sorry, but having a big, rich and tender liver isn't "pathological". Getting your head chopped off and having your liver cut out might be, but the lever wasn't diseased.

(Your definition would count a callus on your hand from hard work as a disease. Or getting an orange complexion from eating too many carrots.)

A medical dictionary provides a more helpful definition:

Disease: An alteration in the state of the body or of some of its organs, interrupting or disturbing the performance of the vital functions, and causing or threatening pain and weakness; malady; affection; illness; sickness; disorder...
http://cancerweb.ncl.ac.uk/cgi-bin/omd?disease

[gd124]

Pathological simply means relating to disease, not necessarily relating to a fatal disease.

How can you claim that the liver in post #15 is not diseased? Are you also claiming that "Fatty Liver Disease" is not a disease?

I would say that fois gras definitely fits your definition. I visited a fois gras farm in France many years ago, and the geese definitely seemed to be in pain.

[Atlas Sneezed]

Then you are using a tautological definition, and the term "pathological" has no meaning. Your defintion is thus"a condition...evidenced by signs."

Most people understand "disease" to convey unhealth, or harmful conditions, not merely abnormalities.

A callus is still under your unusefully broad definition.

I prefer the medical definition, which matches what is understood by the term.

Incidentally, Kobe beef would be considered "diseased" under your silly definition.