Claim: French foie gras makers worry as bird flu spreads in Europe.
Verdict: SUPPORTS

Retrieved passages:
title: Foie gras
text: This led to Algeria, China, Egypt, Japan, Morocco, South Korea, Thailand and Tunisia banning French poultry exports, including foie gras, and France to initiate increased bio-security protocols which will cost an estimated 220 million euros. One of these measures was the halting of production in southwestern France from early April, 2016 for an anticipated period of three months to reduce the spread of the virus. Exports of foie gras from France are expected to decrease from 4,560 tonnes in 2015 to 3,160 tonnes in 2016. In the United States, the largest producer is Hudson Valley Foie Gras, which uses approximately

title: Foie gras
text: producing 72% of world foie gras production of which 97% was from ducks. In 2015, it was reported that in France, sales of foie gras may be waning and an OpinionWay poll found that 47% of the French population supported a ban on force-feeding. In 2016, it was reported that France produces an estimated 75% of the world's foie gras and southwestern France produces approximately 70% of that total. In 2016, it can retail for upwards of $65 a pound. In late 2015, there were several outbreaks of the highly contagious H5N1 bird flu in France, which escalated during 2016.

title: Foie gras
text: farm in New York state. The video showed workers forcefully pushing tubes down ducks' throats. One worker said of the force-feeding process: "Sometimes the duck doesn't get up and it dies. There have been times that 20 ducks were killed." Hudson Valley operations manager Marcus Henley replied that the farm's mortality statistics are not above average for the poultry industry. Because Hudson Valley provides foie gras to Amazon.com, Mercy for Animals began a campaign urging Amazon to stop selling foie gras, a move that has already been made by Costco, Safeway, and Target. In November 2013, the "Daily Mirror" published

title: Animal welfare and rights in France
text: foie gras, which involves enlarging the livers of geese and ducks by force-feeding them for several weeks. Several European countries, including Britain, Norway, Sweden, Germany, and Switzerland, and well as the American state of California have banned foie gras production. In a 2014 survey by a French animal protection group, 47% of respondents said they would support a ban on force-feeding. In 2016, French animal activist group L214 released undercover video of an "organic" French slaughterhouse in which animals are seen to be tortured by slaughterhouse staff and slaughtered while still conscious. The video prompted authorities to close the slaughterhouse

title: 2009 flu pandemic actions concerning pigs
text: of the bird flu, then the swine flu, provided an opportunity to act on a plan that had been there for several years, . Josep Domènech, the chief veterinary officer at the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) called the decision "a real mistake", saying that FAO had been trying to reach Egyptian officials but there has been no response. Egypt commenced the slaughter on 2 May 2009. This led to clashes between pig owners and the police in Cairo. On the next day in Cairo, an estimated 300 Coptic Christian residents of the Manshiyat Nasr district set up blockades

title: Foie gras controversy
text: product of a diseased animal" an adulterated product. In the appeal, the Animal Legal Defense Fund will defend its legal standing to bring the case, noting it has diverted substantial resources to warn the public of the dangerous health risks posed by foie gras and, will assert that the Department's failure to regulate has resulted in the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of diseased birds whose organs are distributed into the human food supply. In July 2014, India banned the import of foie gras making it the first and only country in the world to do so, causing dismay among

title: Foie gras
text: 2017 due to outbreaks of bird flu. In 2014, ducks accounted for 95% of foie gras production. The breeds primarily used are the Muscovy duck ("Cairina moschata") (also called the Barbary duck) and the hybrid cross of a male Muscovy duck and a female Pekin duck ("Anas platyrhynchos domestica") called the Mulard duck. This hybrid is sterile and is therefore sometimes referred to as a "mule" duck. Mulards are estimated to account for about 35% of all foie gras consumed in the US. About 95% of duck foie gras production from France comes from force fed Mulards and the remaining

title: Foie gras
text: Bulgaria (which started production in 1960), 5 million mule ducks were raised for foie gras on 800 farms. This figure makes Bulgaria the second largest producer in Europe. In 2012, France produced around 19,000 tonnes of foie gras representing 75% of the world's production in that year. This required the force-feeding of around 38 million ducks and geese. World production in 2015 is estimated as 27,000 tonnes. In 2014, the whole of the EU produced approximately 25,000 tonnes of foie gras – 23,000 tonnes of duck foie gras and 2,000 tonnes of goose foie gras. The same year, France was

title: Foie gras
text: in southwestern France with a geographical indication of provenance. Hungary is the world's second-largest foie gras ("libamáj") producer and the largest exporter. France is the principal market for Hungarian foie gras – mainly exported raw. Approximately 30,000 Hungarian goose farmers are dependent on the foie gras industry. French food companies spice, process, and cook the foie gras so it may be sold as a French product in its domestic and export markets. Some countries have produced foie gras only sporadically in the past. For example, in 1996, Turkey had a peak year of production with 20 tonnes of foie gras

title: 2009 flu pandemic in France
text: to cancel all flights to Mexico. Stocks of Tamiflu and Relenza are 33 million. On 1 May, the French Health Minister confirmed, during the 8 p.m. TF1 news, that 2 cases of A(H1N1) flu have been detected in France. The government discusses the possibility of ordering 100 million vaccine doses against the flu from three companies (GlaxoSmithKline, Sanofi and Novartis). The French government plans to vaccinate the entire French population (65 million inhabitants) The detailed situation by region is updated by the National Institute of Health 2009 flu pandemic in France The 2009 flu pandemic, involving an outbreak of a

title: Foie gras controversy
text: Austrian provinces, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Norway, Poland, Turkey and the UK. The force feeding of animals for non-medical purposes, essential to current foie gras production practices, is explicitly prohibited by specific laws in Austria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Norway, Poland, or following interpretation of general animal protection laws in Ireland, Sweden, Switzerland, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. However, foie gras can still be imported into and purchased in these countries. Most of these countries do not currently produce foie gras, nor have they in the past. Thus, these bans have

title: Foie gras
text: valued at US$39,000 being exported. In 2005, France produced 18,450 tonnes of foie gras (78.5% of the world's estimated total production of 23,500 tonnes) of which 96% was duck liver and 4% goose liver. Total French consumption of foie gras in this year was 19,000 tonnes. In 2005, Hungary, the world's second-largest foie gras producer exported 1,920 tonnes and Bulgaria produced 1,500 tons of foie gras. The demand for foie gras in the Far East is such that China has become a sizeable producer. Madagascar is a small but rapidly growing producer of high quality foie gras. In 2011 in

title: Foie gras
text: for people with inflammatory complaints such as rheumatoid arthritis. A number of countries and regions have laws against force-feeding or the sale or importation of foie gras, and even where it is legal some retailers have ceased to sell it. In 2017, foie gras production was banned in Brussels - the capital of Belgium, which is one of the few remaining countries that produces foie gras. A more humane version of foie gras was pioneered in the Spanish region of Extremadura, whereby the bird is tricked into preparing for migration rather than force-fed. Foie gras Foie gras (, ; )

title: Foie gras controversy
text: Dr. Thomas Munschauer visited a New York farm at the request of "both sides." "I didn't see exploding esophaguses ... and it didn't seem like the birds were distressed. For the most part, they appear to be well-cared-for. That's what I saw." In January 2009, The National Advertising Division (NAD) of the Council of Better Business Bureau recommended that New Jersey-based foie gras producer D'Artagnan cease advertising claims that their product is made from "enlarged" rather than "diseased" livers, and that the animals were "hand-raised with tender care". D'Artagnan voluntarily modified their advertising to remove the claims which the agency

title: Foie gras controversy
text: fed and says this is important because "a stressed or hurt bird won't eat and digest well or produce a foie gras." Mirepoix USA, a top provider of goose and duck foie gras, alleges that the animal rights activists attack is a form of prohibition against a cuisine item. Mirepoix claims that the use of the term "diseased" to refer to fatted liver is inaccurate and that geese and ducks naturally store dead fish in their esophagi for long periods. The ducks used in foie gras production, however, are a hybrid of Pekin (a type of Mallard) and Muscovy ducks,

title: Foie gras controversy
text: 2009 PETA released a letter written by television and stage actor Bea Arthur to TV chef Curtis Stone deploring the practice of foie gras. In 2014 Compassion in World Farming partners with other organizations such as the German "Albert-Schweitzer Foundation" and the French organization "L214" to pressure the EU Commission and EU Agriculture Council to take action against the production of foie gras. The report of the European Union's Scientific Committee on Animal Health and Animal Welfare on Welfare Aspects of the Production of Foie Gras in Ducks and Geese, adopted on December 16, 1998, is an 89-page review of

title: Foie gras
text: 350,000 ducks each year. In France, foie gras exists in different, legally defined presentations, ordered by expense: Additionally, there is "pâté de foie gras", "mousse de foie gras" (either must contain 50% or more foie gras), "parfait de foie gras" (must contain 75% or more foie gras); and other preparations (no legal obligation established). Fully cooked preparations are generally sold in either glass containers or metal cans for long-term preservation. Whole, fresh foie gras is usually unavailable in France outside the Christmas period, except in some producers' markets in the producing regions. Frozen whole foie gras sometimes is sold in

title: Foie gras
text: human health. Some countries find foie gras to be "morally objectionable". One EU committee report noted that up to 1998, there was only a small number of scientific studies on the welfare of birds used for foie gras production, however, the Committee found sufficient evidence to conclude that "force-feeding, as currently practised, is detrimental to the welfare of the birds." The industry repeatedly faces accusations of torture and cruelty. The production of foie gras occurs on the argument that migrating wildfowl seasonally eat such that their liver naturally enlarges. However, the bird used predominantly in foie gras production is a

title: Singaporean measures against avian influenza
text: the spread of the disease. In October 2005, strain of the bird flu virus was detected in Turkey and Romania indicating that the avian flu was spreading from Asia to Europe. Most of the human deaths so far have been linked to contact with sick birds. But the World Health Organization has said that the virus could mutate into a form that is more easily transmitted from human to human and possibly triggering a pandemic reminiscent of the 1918 flu epidemic that killed tens of millions worldwide. In Thailand, a probable case of human-to-human transmission of H5N1 virus was reported

title: 2007 Bernard Matthews H5N1 outbreak
text: in both directions, between the plant and Hungary with EU regulations being cited as the reason why a transport ban could not be imposed. The Hungary link was dismissed by the European Commission on 12 February. Even so, the H5N1 bird flu strains found in Hungary and Britain were shown to be 99.96% genetically identical and, according to an analysis of the viruses by the Veterinary Laboratories Agency in Weybridge, Surrey, were almost certainly linked. A leak from the Government's COBRA emergency committee indicated that the authorities were not aware of the Hungarian connection until an investigator found a Gallfoods