{"id":763542,"date":"2021-04-19T08:09:19","date_gmt":"2021-04-19T12:09:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/animalrightswatch.us\/?p=763542"},"modified":"2021-04-19T08:12:19","modified_gmt":"2021-04-19T12:12:19","slug":"we-dont-swallow-it-french-farmers-outraged-at-uks-plan-to-ban-imports-of-foie-gras","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/animalrightswatch.us\/?p=763542","title":{"rendered":"DON’T SWALLOW IT: French farmers outraged at UK’s plan to ban imports of ‘harmless’ foie gras"},"content":{"rendered":"\t
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Abigail Penny of Animal Equality UK, said: 'Foie gras is the definition of animal cruelty. We simply cannot tolerate this any longer. A ban can\u2019t come soon enough.'<\/p>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/blockquote>\n\n

KIM WILLSHER:<\/strong> The head of France\u2019s foie gras producers\u2019 association has said she is \u201cshocked and outraged\u201d that the British government is considering banning imports of the product. And she has invited MPs to visit French farms producing foie gras to see the force feeding of ducks and geese and judge for themselves whether it is \u201ccruel and torturous\u201d, as animal rights campaigners claim…<\/p>\n

A cross-party group of British MPs has written to ministers urging them to ban sales of foie gras in the UK. The letter to the environment secretary, George Eustice, and the animal welfare minister, Lord Goldsmith, was coordinated by the campaign group Animal Equality. \u201cOver the coming months, thousands more ducks and geese will endure torturous treatment for this cruel product,\u201d the letter states.<\/p>\n

The Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said it was \u201cexploring further restrictions\u201d to the delicacy following reports that Goldsmith was determined to ban sales in the UK, having described it earlier this year as \u201cunbearably barbaric\u201d… Abigail Penny, executive director of Animal Equality UK, said: \u201cFoie gras is the definition of animal cruelty and people are clearly united in their hatred for this wicked product. We simply cannot tolerate this any longer. A ban can\u2019t come soon enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

Marie-Pierre P\u00e9, director of the Comit\u00e9 Interprofessionnel des Palmip\u00e8des \u00e0 Foie Gras (CIFOG), which represents about 3,500 foie gras producers, said: \u201cI am shocked and I deplore the fact that the freedom to sell a perfectly healthy product defined under international conventions is threatened….<\/p>\n

Asked about the gavage, the most controversial aspect of foie gras production, where long tubes are pushed down the birds throat to pump food into the digestive system, causing the liver to swell to several times its natural size, P\u00e9 said campaigners were anthropomorphising \u2013 attributing human characteristics to animals \u2013 by claiming this harmed or hurt the ducks and geese.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople have to stop imaging a tube being inserted in their own throat, because a duck and goose\u2019s throat is nothing like yours. For a start, the duck\u2019s throat is elastic and at the base there is a pocket that allows them to stock food \u2013 called g\u00e9siers, which is like our stomach,\u201d she said… \u201cIt does no harm to them. Of course, you have to know how to insert the tube, but if done properly the animal does not suffer and scientific studies have been made into the possible effects of the gavage, so we know”…<\/p>\n

Marie-Pierre P\u00e9, director of the Comit\u00e9 Interprofessionnel des Palmip\u00e8des \u00e0 Foie Gras (CIFOG), which represents about 3,500 foie gras producers, said: “foie gras had been singled out for a ban, \u201cbecause foie gras is a gastronomic symbol of France. I think we are an easy target.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a recurrent theme and strategy by the animal rights groups. They produce sensational images to influence economics”… P\u00e9 said that despite Covid restrictions… producers reported 1.2 million new French buyers in 2020… \u201cThere is no problem in terms of support for our products in France,\u201d she said. \u201cThe French love foie gras, there is extraordinary support for it,\u201d she added…<\/p>\n

France is the world\u2019s largest producer, consumer and exporter of foie gras. CIFOG says French farmers produced 15,000 tonnes of foie gras last year \u2013 down on the 18,800 tonnes produced in 2019 \u2013 mostly in and around the P\u00e9rigord region, in south-west France. Up to 5,000 tonnes are exported annually, with up to 200 tonnes a year coming to Britain. SOURCE…<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

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