US denies 'tit-for-tat' ban on French meat

[rodbarnett]

PARIS, Feb 26 (AFP) - Health checks in France by US officials monitoring food imported into the United States are continuous and have not been done on the spur of the moment, a senior US official said on Thursday.

The comments were in response to suspicions in France that a decision by the United States to ban imports of French cured meats and foie gras goose liver pate had been made on impulse, using health standards as a pretext.

The US decision came shortly after the European Union had decided to ban imports of US poultry because of a case of bird flu in poultry in the United States.

<snip>

The official, the US under-secretary for agricultural health issues Elsa Murano, told French Radio Classique that the checks which had led to the meat ban were part of a continuous process.

http://www.expatica.com/source/site_article.asp?subchannel_id=58&story_id=5078

[mmm]

1. The US is fooling no one

pitiful

[saigon68]

9. Une pensée pour le cowboy fou

Bush devrait pousser le jambon vers le haut de son âne

[Mandomaniac]

2. pathetic

I'm takin my ball and going home!

[newyawker99]

15. Hi Mandomaniac!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[colonel odis]

3. screw 'em all. go veggie n/t

[louis-t]

4. Right, and if you believe that....

Ken Lay has some stock he wants to sell you.

[Chicago Democrat]

5. My Frois Gras!

:(

[NashVegas]

7. I Don't Understand How Anyone Could Eat That

Once they try to imagine themselves in the ducks' webbed shoes.

[Chicago Democrat]

10. I only had it once...

and those geese are for eating. The "torture" (which is just massive feeding) last 2 weeks. So anyway they get to eat alot their last two weeks! We only give the condemned jail inmate his wish for a last meal. Then the geese are killed and eaten liver and all; nothing is wasted.

Altogether is is more humane than many conventional US pig, chicken or beef farmers.

[NashVegas]

12. Not Just Eating

It's done with feed tubes and the crap is pumped in.

The NY Times ran an article recently about attacks on Foie Gras producers, it including the following bit:

Prized by the Egyptians, foie gras became a staple in southwest France in the 16th century, where the grandmother of the household would keep a goose in a box, feeding it three or four times a day by pouring warm cooked mash down a funnel into its throat and then packing the mash with a stick. In the 19th century, the great chefs Carême and Escoffier gave foie gras a strong presence in haute cuisine.
...

THIS reporter was permitted to watch force-feeding at Sonoma Foie Gras, accompanied by Mr. Gonzalez and Eric Delmas, 39, the manager, who was raised in Dordogne. Young ducks — whose beak tips are clipped to prevent them from pecking each other, Mr. Gonzalez said — roam freely, first in a large barn, then outside in a chestnut orchard. When they are 12 to 15 weeks old — nearly old enough to be slaughtered — they are confined indoors for two weeks, eight to an elevated pen, in a huge shed darkened to keep them calm, he said. Some standing water on the shed's floor, deep enough to suggest a drainage problem, gave off the foul smell of droppings.

During that time they are force-fed twice a day by a feeder, who uses
an 8- to 10-inch steel pipe attached by a long hose to a hydraulic
machine that resembles a vacuum cleaner in reverse, drawing from a vat
of corn meal mush. The feeder, Jorge Vargas, inserted the metal tube
down a duck's esophagus, electronically administering the 10- to
12-ounce dose, about two-thirds of a tall soda-fountain glass, in four seconds. The mixture had the consistency of a milkshake.

There were no visible signs of distress. These were newcomers to
managed feeding. The ducks who had been force-fed twice a day for two
weeks, their livers swelling from one-third of a pound to one and a
half pounds, were so fat they moved little and panted. The birds gain
an average of seven pounds in two weeks. The mortality rate among the
2,100 ducks raised for foie gras here hovers around 1 to 2 percent, he
said. Weak or injured ducks have their necks broken. "We need to
improve euthanasia," he said.

[Chicago Democrat]

13. Froi Gras Geese Have a decent life, ending in obesity.

"12-ounce dose, about two-thirds of a tall soda-fountain glass, in four seconds. The mixture had the consistency of a milkshake."

Yum sounds nice. I like milkshakes! I dont care if they come in a tube. Like Go-Gurt!


"There were no visible signs of distress."

I am glad; that's what I thought. Plus they get killed soon therafter because that is what the fattening is all about!

[Robb]

6. I'm going to assume

...that we were the ones exporting "tat" to France?

Lord I hope so.

[Rochambeau]

8. uhmmmm,

is it necessary to say that the feeling here in France is that it's just a new pathetic attack from the Boosh's administration....
Lame, lame, lame and boring....

I really hope that the relationships between our two brother countries will turn out all right as soon as Kerry will become the POTUS ! It's so sad for people like me who deeply love USA to see such a disaster... :( Vote my friends please! Paraphrasing Howard Dean I'd say "I want my USA back !!!"

By the way, santé all, cheers, it's my first post here on DU !

Go Democrats Go !!

[area51]

11. Welcome

Welcome to DU, Rochambeau. :toast:

[NYC]

14. Welcome.

:hi:

[newyawker99]

16. Hi Rochambeau!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast: