Foie Gras: Where Do You Stand?

Where do you stand? That’s the question that we posed to guests at Fortnum & Mason’s Food and Drink Awards last night. PETA gave Fortnum & Mason the shameful award of Cruellest Retailer on Monday as a result of its sale of foie gras, and we’re determined to tell as many people as possible about the store’s unethical practices, which hurt animals.

So we came up with an elegant solution for infiltrating the ceremony and getting through to the writers and foodies who were in attendance: we dispatched a team of swankily dressed PETA volunteers to hand out mysterious wax-sealed envelopes to guests on their way into the store.

Upon opening the letter, attendees saw this hard-hitting message:

Fortnum & Mason is proud of its British heritage. So why is it selling an item which is illegal to produce in the UK?

An investigation at a French farm that supplies foie gras to Fortnum & Mason found that birds tried to flee in terror from the metal force-feeding pipe and panted constantly because their engorged livers pressed against their lungs. At the abattoir, many geese were stabbed in the throat without prior stunning, which is illegal under both French and British law.

Fortnum & Mason is one of the last British department stores still selling foie gras. Sir Roger Moore, Ricky Gervais, Joanna Lumley and Dame Vera Lynn are among the many high-profile names calling on Fortnum & Mason to stop selling foie gras, and even Prince Charles has banned foie gras from being served at his residences.

Where do you stand?

Learning about Fortnum & Mason’s support of inhumanely produced foie gras in the middle of the store’s own award ceremony may have made some people feel slightly … uncomfortable. But a little social awkwardness pales into insignificance when compared to the intense, prolonged physical suffering of geese on foie gras farms.

Yesterday evening, our goal was to educate people about the cruelty of foie gras and Fortnum & Mason’s hypocrisy in continuing to sell the nasty stuff. And we can safely say, “Mission accomplished”! But as for putting a stop to the horrors of force-feeding for good, there’s still work to do. That’s why we need your help! Please speak out for ducks and geese today by taking action here: http://action.peta.org.uk/ea-action/action?ea.client.id=5&ea.campaign.id=16005