Foie gras, French for “fatty liver,” is the fattened liver of a duck or a goose and is regarded by some as a delicacy. According to Farm Sanctuary, France produces and consumes about 75 percent of the world’s foie gras, involving 24 million ducks and a half a million geese every year. The United States and Canada use 500,000 birds per year in foie gras production.
Animal rights activists oppose all uses of animals and advocate veganism, but many consider foie gras to be particularly cruel. It’s viewed in the same category as veal, which even most enlightened carnivores avoid.
Why Foie Gras Is Considered Cruel
The production of foie gras is considered by some to be unusually cruel because the birds are force-fed a corn mash through a metal tube several times a day so that they gain weight and their livers become 10 times their natural size. Force-feeding sometimes injures the esophagus of the bird, which may lead to death. Additionally, the fattened ducks and geese may have difficulty walking, vomit undigested food, and/or suffer in extreme confinement.
Both genders of geese are used in foie gras production, but with ducks, only the males are used while the females are raised for meat.
Humane Foie Gras
Some farmers now offer “humane foie gras,” which is produced without force-feeding. These livers may not meet legal definitions of foie gras in some countries, which require a minimum size and/or fat content.
Foie Gras Bans
In 2004, California enacted a ban on the sale and production foie gras that was to take effect in 2012 but never did. Farm Sanctuary, which had actively and aggressively fought for the passage of the bill, reported:
Experts on Foie Gras
A variety of veterinarians and scientists oppose foie gras production, including the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. The European Union’s Scientific Committee on Animal Health and Animal Welfare investigated the production of foie gras in 1998 and concluded that “force feeding, as currently practiced, is detrimental to the welfare of the birds.”
The American Veterinary Medical Association has not taken a position for or against foie gras but has stated
The Animal Rights Position
Even birds used in “humane foie gras” production are bred, confined, and killed. Regardless of whether the animals are force-fed or how well the animals are treated, foie gras can never be acceptable because using an animal in food production violates the animal’s rights to be free of human use.
