Initiated Ordinance 311 would prohibit the production and sale in the City and County of Denver of products made by force-feeding birds, including foie gras. If voters approve it, the restriction would take effect July 1, 2027.
The measure would chiefly affect restaurants selling covered products. Violations could bring fines of up to $5,000 or the loss of city licenses, according to Denverite. Foie gras is liver meat produced by force-feeding ducks and geese. Producing it involves feeding poultry a high-fat corn mash for 12 to 15 days through a 15-to-25-centimeter tube inserted into the esophagus; the tube dispenses up to 450 grams per meal, typically two or three times a day.
Estimates of how many Denver restaurants would be affected differ. Olivia Hammond, a spokesperson for Pro-Animal Colorado, put the number at roughly 15 restaurants serving products derived from force-feeding; the Denver Gazette estimated closer to two dozen. About two dozen Denver businesses still sell foie gras.
What the Ordinance Would and Wouldn't Do
Denver has no factories or farms that force-feed birds, Hammond said, though the ordinance would bar such facilities from opening in the city. Its restrictions would apply to producing and selling products made through force-feeding; foie gras produced without force-feeding would remain legal to sell.
Pro-Animal Colorado submitted more than 16,000 signatures to put the question on the ballot; just over 11,000 were deemed valid. The organization also took part in unsuccessful 2024 efforts to ban fur sales and slaughterhouses in Denver.
How Denver Voted on Similar Measures
Denver’s 2024 votes offer a recent local precedent, though not a prediction for Ordinance 311. According to The Denver Post, nearly 58% of voters opposed the separate fur-ban proposal and 64.6% opposed the slaughterhouse-ban proposal. Those results do not determine how voters will decide the foie gras measure.
Money and Opposition Lining Up
The campaign has cited Colorado State University polling showing that 85% of Colorado voters said they support ending the sale of foie gras produced using force-feeding methods. On the funding side, the Karuna Foundation — an organization that otherwise focuses on climate change mitigation — is the largest financial supporter of Pro-Animal Colorado's push for the ordinance.
As of September 14, no formal opposition campaign had organized in Denver, per Denverite's reporting. Still, industry voices have pushed back. Denise Mickelsen, a spokesperson for the Colorado Restaurant Association, said the group opposes policies that mandate or ban specific restaurant products. The Institute of Culinary Education has argued that bans like this one are hypocritical and detrimental to restaurants, advocating instead for better monitoring of force-feeding practices rather than an outright prohibition.
How Other Cities Have Handled Similar Bans
Denver would not be the first city to wrestle with this question, and the track record elsewhere is mixed. Chicago banned foie gras sales in 2006 but rescinded the law two years later, and one Chicago restaurateur was fined $250 for serving foie sausage in defiance of the short-lived rule, according to Eater.
New York City's City Council passed a bill banning foie gras sales in restaurants and gourmet groceries, with fines of up to $2,000 for violations, and the ban was originally scheduled to begin in 2022, per CBS News. New York state ultimately blocked the city from enforcing that ban, ruling it ran afoul of a law limiting how cities can regulate agricultural products, according to Restaurant Business.
California has had more staying power with its own restrictions. State lawmakers passed a bill banning force-feeding and foie gras in 2004, and the ban went into effect on July 1, 2012. The Ninth Circuit upheld California's force-feeding ban in September 2017, ruling that it was not preempted by the federal Poultry Products Inspection Act, according to the National Law Review. A subsequent court challenge still allowed some sales through retail vendors when the birds were raised out of state, per Restaurant Business.
Beyond U.S. borders, Brazil, the United Kingdom and Germany ban either force-feeding or the production of foie gras outright, Denverite reports. Portland, Oregon, is also weighing a ban on selling foie gras produced through force-feeding, with potential fines of up to $5,000 for violators, according to the Standard.
The examples above show that restrictions on foie gras have had varied outcomes, from California’s upheld state ban to city measures later rescinded or blocked. If approved, Ordinance 311 would apply within Denver to the production and sale of products made by force-feeding birds, beginning July 1, 2027.
