Get your ducks in a row is another way of saying get your priorities straight. What I'm going to talk about today is the inhuman treatment of ducks/geese in the production of foie gras. You get to choose between an exorbitantly priced food delicacy and relieving beautiful animals from cruel, abusive treatment at the hands of their captors.
Foie Gras is a food product made of the liver of a duck or goose that has been specially fattened. This fattening is typically achieved through gavage (force-feeding) corn, according to French law,[1] though outside of France it is occasionally produced using natural feeding.
Foie gras is a popular and well-known delicacy in French cuisine. Its flavor is described as rich, buttery, and delicate, unlike that of a regular duck or goose liver. Foie gras is sold whole, or is prepared into mousse, parfait, or pâté (the lowest quality), and may also be served as an accompaniment to another food item, such as steak. French law states that "Foie gras belongs to the protected cultural and gastronomical heritage of France."[3] Another European cuisine employs fattened goose liver almost to the extent as in France; in Hungary, libamáj (lit. 'goose liver') is produced, as in France, both at the small farm and larger commercial levels, and is consumed both plain and in cooking by all levels of society. As with French foie gras, tinned libamáj is exported and can be purchased around Europe and North America.
The technique of gavage dates as far back as 2500 BC, when the ancient Egyptians began keeping birds for food and deliberately fattened the birds through force-feeding.[4] Today, France is by far the largest producer and consumer of foie gras, though it is produced and consumed worldwide, particularly in other European nations, the United States, and the People's Republic of China.[5]
Deprived of everything that is natural to them, ducks and geese who are used in foie gras production suffer from frustration and stress. They are crammed into tiny pens or individual cages fouled with faeces and blood and often develop skeletal disorders and respiratory problems as a result. Pipes are shoved down their throats several times a day to force up to four and a half pounds of grain, maize and fat into their stomachs. In human terms, that is the equivalent of roughly 45 pounds of pasta.
The pipes sometimes puncture the birds' throats, causing them unbearable pain and making it impossible to drink. Pumps used to force food into the birds' stomachs can cause severe tissue damage and internal bleeding. This painful overfeeding process can even cause the birds' internal organs to rupture. Those who survive the forced-feedings suffer intensely as their livers swell to up to 10 times their normal size. After several weeks of this torture, the birds are slaughtered and their livers are sold as foie gras.
Following talks with PETA UK in 2008, Fortnum & Mason stated that it would no longer sell duck foie gras. I am sorry to tell you that Fortnum & Mason continues to sell goose foie gras in its store and serve it in its restaurants. A store that trades on its British heritage should be ashamed to be selling a product too cruel to produce in the UK.
You can sign a petition here to let Fortnum & Mason know how you feel about it's promotion of this cruel and inhuman process.
If you need more proof here is vid from the Stop Gavage citizens initiative. In making the film Stop Gavage collaborated with the Animal Protection and Rescue League (USA) and Compassion in World Farming France (PMAF). Force feeding under Scrutiny an investigation in the southwest of France, land of the foie gras tradition More than 80 % of the global production of foie gras comes from France. Each year 17,000 tons of foie gras are sold in France, which amounts to the organs of 30-million birds every year. This is more than the number of pigs and cattle slaughtered for food.
Peace