Fortnum & Mason Faces New Foie Gras Cruelty Expose

Posted by on October 1, 2012 | Permalink

Shocking undercover video footage of several farms represented by the Sarlat Périgord cooperative, which supplies Fortnum & Mason foie gras distributor Georges Bruck, was released by PETA. The distressing video, narrated by PETA’s foie gras ambassador, Sir Roger Moore, shows the grim reality for geese whose bloated livers will end up being sold as foie gras.

PETA’s investigators filmed geese with laboured breathing who were unable to support their own bodyweight. Video footage also shows blood dripping from an injured bird through the wire grating on which the geese have to stand for the last weeks of their lives and which is never cleaned. Extremely graphic scenes from the abattoir used by the farms show the geese not being properly stunned and continuing to struggle, gasp and lift their heads for some time after their throats are cut.

“I am horrified by the callous treatment of geese that PETA investigators filmed on foie gras farms in France”, says Sir Roger Moore. “I hope compassionate people everywhere will boycott Fortnum & Mason until they remove this “torture in a tin” from their shelves and menus.”

Other abuses documented by PETA include the following:

      – Geese spend the last two weeks of their lives in barren pens, forced to spend 24 hours a day on metal grating. Their waste is never cleaned up. When an investigator spotted a goose with an open, bleeding wound, a worker simply joked, “Oh, she broke a nail!” and walked away.
      – Birds who can’t stand because their legs can no longer support their bodyweight as a result of their huge livers are trampled on by others.
      – Distressed geese pant constantly because their distended livers press against their lungs. When the birds try to escape the force-feeding pipes, workers grab them roughly by their throats or wings.

Watch the shocking video and ask Fortnum & Mason to stop selling foie gras.