The Transformation of the French Foie Gras Industry: Globalization, Intellectual Property Rights and Industrial Domination

Abstract

Although this has undoubtedly escaped the notice of most consumers, over the last 15 years foie gras has become more abundant and less expensive. Behind these trends lies an industry within which the daily industrial and commercial practices of duck producers, manufacturers and retailers have been deeply transformed. At the root of this modified ‘productive system’, however, lies the emergence and institutionalization of a new normative and cognitive framework for this industry. This process began in the late 1980s when concerns began to be systematically raised in the South-West of France about the effects of unregulated international trade upon the quality of the foie gras on the market, the veracity of its geographical labelling and, indirectly, the lowering of its price. More precisely, producers and manufacturers from areas such as the Périgord began to contest and politicize a practice, common at the time, which consisted of importing liver from Eastern-bloc countries such as Hungary, processing it in the South-West of France, and then labelling it as a product of this region. In so doing, these actors allied themselves with representatives of other foodstuffs (e.g. Jambon de Bayonne, Jambon de Parme, Pruneaux d’Agen) who were similarly outraged at the fraudulent ‘passing off of their products. After lengthy intra- and trans-national negotiations, in 1992, this alliance then convinced a sufficient number of national governments in Europe to pass a European Union (EU) regulation (2081/92) creating a system of Protected Geographical Indications (PGIs) for food products.