Ballot initiatives to ban foie gras in DC and Denver

Voters in Washington, D.C., and Denver, Colorado, will decide on ballot measures to prohibit the production and sale of foie gras, a practice criticized for its cruelty to ducks and geese. The proposed bans aim to protect animal welfare and reflect growing public opposition to force‑fed foie gras in the food industry.

Voters in Denver and Washington, D.C., will decide on ballot measures that would ban the production and sale of foie gras, the fattened liver of ducks and geese produced through force-feeding. The proposals have drawn sharp debate over animal welfare, government enforcement costs and culinary freedom. Denver’s Initiated Ordinance 311 was placed on the November 2026 ballot after the activist group Pro-Animal Colorado submitted about 11,400 verified signatures in December 2025. The group says 16 Denver restaurants currently serve foie gras, which is the liver of a duck or goose enlarged by force-feeding. The measure would ban sales and production where force-feeding is involved, direct the Denver Department of Public Health and Environment to enforce it, and take effect in July 2027. The department would keep a complaint system and an online database of violations. Penalties would be $1,000 to $5,000 per violation, with business licence suspension of up to six months for repeat offences. Pro-Animal Colorado spokesperson Dani Withaar said the practice causes fatty liver disease that makes birds difficult to walk and swells livers up to ten times their normal size, and that the ban targets the method, not the product, so force-fed-free foie gras could still be served. Scientists have developed force-fed-free foie gras, according to Food & Wine magazine. Opponents include the group NO ON 311, the Colorado Restaurant Association, the Hispanic Restaurants Association and Eat Denver. Campaign manager Landon Gates called the measure a heavy-handed mandate that limits chef judgement and consumer choice. Nick Hoover of the Colorado Restaurant Association said the ordinance threatens culinary creativity and creates a slippery slope for future mandates. Denver voters rejected a fur ban and a slaughterhouse ban in 2024. The Denver Post reported that the city does not currently have foie gras farms, so the ban would only block future ones. Westword published duelling op-eds on the measure and noted reader comments ranging from support for reducing animal cruelty to concern that the ban is an unfunded mandate that will tax the city. Washington, D.C., has Initiative 86 on the same November ballot. Pro-Animal DC is pushing the ban, calling force-feeding an inhumane practice for an unnecessary luxury item. Shadow Representative Oye Owolewa, the Democratic nominee for at-large councilmember, endorsed the measure, saying residents are ready for a cruelty-free capital. The city’s chief financial officer estimated the ban would cost $314,000 over four fiscal years, not counting possible litigation. Mayor Muriel Bowser, a Democrat, has said she will vote against it on principle, and more than $350,000 of campaign funding came from out of state. Reason magazine reported that Le Diplomate, the Stephen Starr restaurant in D.C., had already removed foie gras from its menu after protests, and that chef Bart Hutchins of Butterworth’s said ducks on farms run toward the feeding tube because the process is a natural biological trigger. Hutchins also cited Anthony Bourdain’s 2010 book, which classed Wolfgang Puck as a villain for banning foie gras in his restaurants in 2007, a move Hutchins says hurt chefs with fewer resources to fight activists.

Read source: PETA