And the Award for Cruellest Retailer Goes to …

… a company that profits from the torture of animals – Fortnum & Mason. As it gears up for its hoity-toity Food & Drink Awards ceremony tomorrow, we felt duty-bound to tell the world about the store’s nasty side by presenting an award of our own. So today, we bestowed on Fortnum & Mason the not-so-proud title of UK’s Cruellest Retailer because of its continued sale of foie gras.

Glamorous PETA volunteers put on their glad rags and rolled out a red carpet outside Fortnum & Mason’s Piccadilly store in order to present the medal of dishonour. Although for some reason, the company’s CEO, Ewan Venters, declined to attend the ceremony, plenty of curious passersby stopped to find out what was going on – and were dismayed to learn the vile secret of animal abuse that lurks behind Fortnum’s fancy exterior.

When it comes to cruelty, Fortnum & Mason really does stand out. Harvey Nichols, Selfridges, Ocado and many other businesses have shown that they have a conscience by banishing foie gras from their shelves. Because foie gras is made by repeatedly shoving a metal pipe down the throats of ducks and geese and feeding them until they become severely ill, it can never be humane.

Fortnum & Mason’s Food & Drink Awards are purportedly all about “the proud heritage of British food”. But if the company really were committed to celebrating the best of British, it wouldn’t still sell foie gras. There is no such thing as British foie gras, after all: it’s illegal to produce the repugnant foodstuff in this country because of its cruelty.

As long as Fortnum & Mason profits from imported torture, it has no right to talk about our proud British heritage. Anyone with an ounce of compassion would not be able to maintain a stiff upper lip while watching the trauma that geese go through on foie gras farms. We know – we’ve seen it. Our undercover investigation of Fortnum & Mason’s suppliers shows panting, terrified birds who are roughly grabbed by their necks as the force-feeding tube is shoved down their throats and huge amounts of grain are pumped into their stomachs. This happens to them several times, every single day, until they’re killed, painfully, at the abattoir.

That’s why Fortnum & Mason deserves this ignominious award, and that’s why animals are counting on you to write to the store asking it to end this cruelty, now.