Off The Gourmet Shelves

Caviar, foie gras and some other luxury food items may soon be harder to come by. It’s not the scarcity or the cost; it’s the proliferation of regulatory roadblocks. A look at some recent snafus at the gourmet counter.

–By Lisa McLaughlin

CASPIAN CAVIAR Supplies have been slowed while a U.N. agency, concerned about the endangered sturgeon, decides on export quotas

AU REVOIR TO FOIE GRAS? An outcry over animal cruelty has led to proposed legislation in California that would outlaw production and sale of the fatted duck and goose livers

ENDANGERED BRIE Regulations on unpasteurized cheese are more strictly enforced, aimed at barring European raw-milk cheeses less than 60 days old as a health risk

TOTAL YOGURT Has been pulled off shelves until its Greek maker can get U.S. state inspectors to come to Greece