Supreme Court rejects latest challenge to California foie gras ban

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- Animal rights activists are celebrating a win involving the sale of foie gras, a controversial delicacy made by force-feeding ducks and geese.

The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected the latest challenge to California's ban on foie gras, a restriction spawned by ABC7 News I-Team reports.

On Monday, the court declined to hear an appeal by the foie gras industry to California's state ban on the sale of the product.

The high court's decision will allow the foie gras ban to go into immediate effect, prohibiting it from being sold in the Golden State, said the Animal Legal Defense Fund.

RELATED: U.S. Court of Appeals bans foie gras, force feeding ducks

Foie gras is produced from the enlarged livers of ducks and geese that have been force-fed corn.

U.S. Supreme Court's refusal to hear the case leaves in place a 2017 ruling by the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upholding the law.

"The Animal Legal Defense Fund celebrates the death knell for the foie gras industry's long crusade against California's landmark law," says Animal Legal Defense Fund Executive Director Stephen Wells. "The suffering ducks endure to produce foie gras is intolerable and rightfully outlawed."

The I-Team's Dan Noyes has covered this issue since 2003. His undercover video fueled the ban's passage in the state legislature in 2004.