‘It’S Commons Sense’: Mp’S Call For End To F&M Foie Gras Sales

For Immediate Release:

12 December 2012

Contact:

Ben Williamson +44(0)20 7837 6327, ext 229; [email protected]

A photo of the event is available here and from Camera Press among others.

London – Brandishing replicas of the metal pipes used to force-feed geese during foie gras production and holding signs that read, “It’s Commons Sense: Stop Foie Gras Sales”, MPs Chris Williamson, Kerry McCarthy, George Galloway, and Martin Horwood, protested outside the Fortnum & Mason store in Piccadilly today. Their point? That even though Fortnum & Mason has seen PETA’s video footage showing shocking cruelty to animals on the French goose farms that supply the store’s foie gras distributor, the department store persists in keeping the vile product on its shelves.

“It’s hard to believe Fortnum & Mason’s claims to be ‘quintessentially English’ when it sells a product that’s illegal to produce in the UK and that has been condemned by Members of Parliament, Royalty and a variety of British icons, including Sir Roger Moore and Dame Vera Lynn”, says PETA Associate Director Mimi Bekhechi. “It’s long past time for Fortnum & Mason to follow the examples of Selfridges and Harvey Nichols and elect to take foie gras off its shelves for good.”

During foie gras production, huge amounts of grain are pumped into geese’s stomachs through metal pipes, which are rammed down their throats several times a day. Their distended livers – which can swell to up to 10 times their normal size – press against their lungs, causing them to pant constantly. Veterinarians and avian experts agree – there is no humane way to produce foie gras.

The action comes shortly after Green party MP Caroline Lucas sent a letter to the Lord Chamberlain calling for Fortnum & Mason to be stripped of its Royal Warrants for continuing to sell foie gras – a product so vile that it is illegal to produce in the UK and is banned from Royal menus.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.uk.