“Foie gras does not cause suffering.”Human washing at the EU Parliament

Foie gras is obtained by force-feeding, but the European Parliament is trying to convince us otherwise.How human washing works.

The Foie gras, literally "fatty liver”, has always been considered a luxury product, but the truth is that the practice used to obtain it is one of the most anachronistic and cruel in the entire food sector:in fact, to obtain foie gras, forced feeding is used.So what is happening in the European Parliament and why are we talking about humane washing?

How foie gras is produced

To make foie gras, a metal tube is inserted into the throats of ducks and geese to pump large quantities of food into their bodies, far more than they would voluntarily ingest.This "engorgement” is performed two or three times a day for approximately two (for ducks) to three weeks (for geese).The practice aims to induce hypertrophy of liver fat cells (hepatic steatosis), a pathological degeneration that leads the liver of these animals to grow to more than ten times its normal size.

A real barbarism recognized as such, so much so that it is already practiced banned for years in 22 European countries – including Italy.Italian laws, in fact, provide not only sanctions, but also the possible suspension of the activity in case of use of forced feeding.

What is happening in the European Parliament and why are we talking about humane washing and foie gras

Despite this, in recent months the European Parliament meeting in Strasbourg approved a report produced by the French MEP Jeremy Decerle on “animal welfare on farms” which provides a distorted and dangerous interpretation of the practice of force-feeding ducks and geese in the production of foie gras.

In fact, in point 31 of this report it is said that "the production of foie gras is based on breeding procedures that respect animal welfare criteria, (..) where fattening (...) respects the biological parameters of the animal ”. Every single independent scientific study (i.e. not financed by the foie gras industry) in the world has already amply demonstrated how this practice is harmful to animals and incompatible with any standard of animal welfare.We at Animal Equality we asked - together with many other organizations for the protection of animal rights - from all political areas to reject the report proposed by MEP Decerle completely, but at the time of the vote i Italian deputies scuttled the amendments which would have allowed at least the most ruthless practices such as force-feeding and shredding of chicks to be excluded from the repost.

Raise awareness about foie gras production

All over the world we are witnessing a slow but inexorable revaluation of this food once considered luxury, thanks also to a greater awareness of the cruelty that lies behind it.In several countries work is underway to ban its importation and sale, as in the case of the United Kingdom and Germany. India was a pioneer in this sense:already in 2014 the Indian Director General of Foreign Trade issued an order that prohibited the importation of foie gras into the national territory following the Animal Equality campaign, which in 2012 presented the results of an investigation conducted to the Indian government in Spain and France, demonstrating that one of the most well-known distributors investigated was also importing into India.

We cannot allow Europe to take steps backwards in this sense:practices such as force-feeding they should be a distant memory by now in European countries that boast the best animal welfare standards and no politician who remotely cares about animals can defend this horrible practice.