Foie gras may transmit disease
From Times Staff and Wire Reports
Geese force-fed and then slaughtered for their livers may get their final revenge on people who favor the delicacy known as pate de foie gras: It may transmit a little-known disease known as amyloidosis, researchers reported Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
A team from the University of Tennessee found that an abnormal protein called a prion can be transmitted to mice via pate and bring on disease in genetically susceptible animals. Symptoms of amyloidosis are often vague and range from fatigue and weight loss to swelling and kidney damage.
