Brazil's foie gras ban covers imports too: what it means for the EU and New Zealand

On 23 July 2026, Brazil's President Lula signed Law 15.475, banning the production and sale of any food produced by force-feeding animals. Because the ban applies to sale, it covers imported foie gras as well as domestic production. It takes effect in January 2027, 180 days after publication in the official gazette.

Why the design matters under trade law

Brazil is the first country in Latin America to prohibit both the production and the sale of foie gras by national law. The design of the measure is what matters for trade policy. Because the prohibition applies to sale, it covers imported products as well as domestic production, and it does so in the way that trade law favours: a single standard for everything sold on the Brazilian market, applied identically whatever the country of origin. It singles out no trading partner, imposes no tariff, and leaves the market open to any product that meets the standard.

The law was signed in full despite reported diplomatic representations from France, the product's main exporter, ahead of presidential sanction. Brazil's Congress had approved the bill unanimously. One of the world's largest agricultural exporters, legislating while the EU–Mercosur trade agreement moves through ratification, evidently judged that an origin-neutral welfare standard and an active trade agenda are compatible.

What Brazil's law means for the EU

The European Commission committed in its July 2026 EU Livestock Strategy to propose legislation applying EU animal welfare standards to imported products: for laying hens and broilers by the end of 2026, and for pigs by 2027.

Brazil's law strengthens the case for delivering those proposals on schedule. Far from being an EU anomaly, the approach the Commission has committed to is one that a growing number of jurisdictions have adopted, now including a major agricultural exporter and Mercosur party. It also shows that welfare requirements on imports are compatible with an ambitious trade agenda. The EU already applies welfare-based standards to imports in its slaughter rules; extending the same approach to rearing standards is common sense.

What Brazil's law means for New Zealand

New Zealand has made the same kind of judgement Brazil has, in its own areas: Parliament banned sow stalls in 2016 and battery cages in 2023. But unlike Brazil's law, New Zealand's standards stop at the border. Products made using the practices New Zealand has prohibited can still be imported and sold.

Brazil's law is a working example of the fix: apply the standard to what is sold, not only to what is produced. Polling by Horizon Research found over 80% of New Zealanders agree imported products should respect the same animal welfare standards applied in New Zealand, and Curia Market Research polling of 1,000 farmers in April 2026 found 78% agree. With a general election in 2026, there is a clear opportunity for parties to set out where they stand.

Which countries ban foie gras sales, not just production

India closed its borders to foie gras in 2014; California has paired production and sales bans since 2012 and extended the same design to confinement systems through Proposition 12; the European Commission has committed to equivalent import requirements; and Brazil has now legislated. In the United Kingdom, where production by force-feeding has been effectively banned since 2007 but imports continue, the Labour Party committed before the 2024 general election to banning commercial foie gras imports and has yet to act. Higher welfare standards shouldn't stop at the border, and a growing number of jurisdictions are writing that principle into law.