France bans foie gras following bird flu scare

France has introduced a three-month ban on the production of foie gras following a bird flu scare.

The new legislation means 18 regions will not be able to keep ducks or geese in their slaughterhouses until August.

Marie Pierre Pe, the spokeswoman for the producers' federation, Cifog, told Le Figaro that 4,000 jobs would be affected in some way.

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"This interruption to our business will cause cash flow problems, additional wage costs linked to the temporary unemployment of around 4,000 workers and fixed costs that will have to be paid despite us not having any income," she said.

One farmer said there would also be nine million fewer ducks on the market and the price of foie gras would inevitably go up, according to news website The Local.

The move comes after increasing pressure to halt the production of the controversial food following the detection of the highly virulent H5N1 strain of bird flu at a chicken farm in Dordogne in November.

H5N1 is highly lethal for birds but humans are typically only infected when they come into close contact with the animal, reports The Independent.

According to website The Local, France produces around 75 per cent of the world supply of foie gras and exported nearly 5,000 tonnes in 2014.

The luxury dish has "become a battleground between animals-rights campaigners and defenders of France's gourmet traditions", it says.

Animal charities have long argued that force-feeding distresses the birds, that the feeding pipe can damage their throats and that their livers can swell six to ten times their normal size.