Brazil bans foie gras and becomes the first country in Latin America to prohibit the product
The achievement is the result of a six-year campaign led by Animal Equality, which gathered more than 310,000 signatures and the support of dozens of civil society organizations.
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has signed the bill 90/2020, which prohibits nationwide the production, import, export, and sale of foods obtained through force-feeding of animals (gavage), a practice most commonly associated with foie gras production. With this signing, Brazil becomes the second country in the world, after India, to simultaneously ban both the production and sale of the product, and the first in Latin America and the Western Hemisphere to do so through federal law.
The signing is the direct result of a more than six-year campaign led by Animal Equality in Brazil. Since 2020, investigations in farms and slaughterhouses, political advocacy, protests, and public mobilization have been carried out to follow Bill 90/2020.
Foie gras is produced from the liver of ducks and geese subjected to a force-feeding process. The aim is to deliberately induce hepatic steatosis, commonly known as fatty liver disease, causing the organ to grow up to ten times its natural size. To induce this condition, animals are force-fed twice a day using a metal tube approximately 30 centimeters long, inserted directly into their throats. In comparative terms, this would be equivalent to forcing an 80 kg adult human to ingest around 13 kg of food within seconds, twice a day.
Beyond the extreme suffering caused to animals, foie gras has never represented economic relevance for the country: it remained a luxury niche product, consumed by a very small portion of the population, costing up to 5,000 reais per kilogram. For years, only two farms maintained animals for this purpose in Brazil, currently embargoed by IBAMA.
This is a historic moment. Foie gras represents one of the cruelest practices inflicted on animals exploited for human consumption. Brazil has shown that ethical standards are not negotiable. We are confident that this progress will inspire and drive change in other parts of the world,” says Sharon Núñez, President of Animal Equality.
Production is already banned or restricted in several countries, including the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Poland, Argentina, and Australia, but a full ban on both production and sale had only previously been achieved by India, where Animal Equality also led the campaign for prohibition.
This victory belongs to each of the more than 300,000 people who signed our petition and never let this issue fade from public attention. Brazil is becoming a reference for animal protection in Latin America. We hope this achievement opens the path for similar progress in other countries in the region,” says Dulce Ramírez, Vice President for Latin America at Animal Equality.
The ban takes effect 180 days after the law is published. Animal Equality will continue to monitor its progress and push for similar bans around the world.
PROTECT FAMILIES
Even before hatching from their eggs, ducklings communicate with their close-knit families. Protect these families by choosing plant-based alternatives.
