Compassion Over
Killing (COK)
June 2012
Foie gras, which means “fatty liver,” is produced by force-feeding ducks and geese multiple times a day for weeks. As a result of pumping large quantities of food into their stomachs, their livers swell up to ten times the normal size – a condition known as hepatic lipidosis, or fatty liver disease. In other words, foie gras is, by definition, the product of a diseased animal.
On the left: a foie gras liver.
On the right: a normal liver.
Compassion Over Killing, Animal Legal Defense Fund, Farm Sanctuary, and
Animal Protection & Rescue League, and several concerned individuals joined
forces to file a lawsuit against the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) for
allowing the sale of a diseased poultry product commonly known as foie gras.
Foie gras, which means “fatty liver,” is produced by force-feeding ducks and
geese multiple times a day for weeks. As a result of pumping large
quantities of food into their stomachs, their livers swell up to ten times
the normal size – a condition known as hepatic lipidosis, or fatty liver
disease. In other words, foie gras is, by definition, the product of a
diseased animal.
The USDA, however, is required through the Poultry Products Inspection
Act (PPIA) to condemn as adulterated all diseased poultry. According to the
lawsuit filed today, the USDA is allegedly violating the PPIA by failing to
condemn foie gras, and thereby allowing the sale of an adulterated diseased
poultry product.
Foie gras production not only induces a disease in ducks and geese, but it’s
considered so cruel that it’s been banned in several countries as well as
the state of California (ban takes effect July 1, 2012). In fact, COK’s
investigation inside a foie gras factory farm in New York uncovered what can
only be described as a torture chamber: birds are grabbed by their necks or
wings and a metal pipe is shoved down their throats in order to forcefully
pump large quantities of food into their stomachs. This process itself
causes the birds to suffer immensely, let alone the pain and discomfort
caused by fatty liver disease. And it should come as no surprise that foie
gras farms have high mortality rates. Those birds who do survive this
process are then shackled upside-down and have their throats slit often
while fully conscious.
Return to Animal Rights Articles
Read more at Foie Gras
Read more at Litigation