Denver voters will decide whether to ban foie gras in the city now that the Clerk and Recorder’s Office has certified the question for the fall 2026 ballot.
Proponents of the measure, an activist group called Pro-Animal Colorado, submitted 16,158 signatures and the clerk’s office verified about 11,400 of them on Dec. 23, according to a news release issued by the group on Monday. The clerk’s website confirms that the petitions were found sufficient.
“Qualifying for the ballot with a volunteer-driven campaign shows how strongly Denver voters feel about ending this kind of animal cruelty. This is about setting a clear standard for what our city will and will not support,” said Justin Clark, the campaign director for Pro-Animal Colorado, in the release.
Foie gras — or fattened liver of a duck or goose — is a delicacy in French cooking that is occasionally featured on higher-end restaurants’ menus. Farmers produce the food by force-feeding the birds beyond what they need, fattening their livers. The practice is banned in California.
The question will ask voters whether the city should adopt an ordinance “prohibiting the force feeding of birds and … prohibiting the sale of products derived from force feeding birds, including foie gras.”
The Colorado Restaurant Association hasn’t yet taken a position on the measure but will discuss the matter at an upcoming meeting, said Nick Hoover, the director of government affairs for the advocacy group.
“We consistently oppose mandates and bans on the restaurant industry,” Hoover said.
The last attempt by animal-rights activists to pass initiatives in Denver failed in 2024, when voters rejected a fur ban and another measure that would have outlawed slaughterhouses (it targeted the city’s one remaining facility).
Though Denver doesn’t have any foie gras-producing farms, the new measure would prevent any from opening and would prohibit sales of the products, according to the proponents.
If approved by city voters in November, the proposed ordinance would take effect on July 1, 2027. It would empower the Denver Department of Public Health and Environment to enforce the ban, including by imposing fines up to $5,000.
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