Within the menus of fine dining restaurants, you will see a popular, ancient, french delicacy, known as Foie Gras. Foie Gras, translated in English as “fatty liver” is made out of duck or goose liver, many describe it to have a distinct texture and flavor in which it has velvety texture and a meaty, almost butter-like flavor. As appetizing as it sounds, many do not know what goes into the process of creating the unique characteristics of the Foie Gras we know and love.
Although Foie Gras can be interpreted as unethical just like the meat industry, one thing that makes Foie Gras stand out from the meat industry is one of its most vital processes, a process that allows foie gras to be produced. This vital process is called gavage, which is force-feeding with the use of a tube that releases a fatty corn-based substance from the throat into the stomach (Animal Equality). Force-feeding these birds help the birds to develop a fatty liver condition known as steatosis which is needed to produce foie gras. This could mean that these animals are never left to starve, however, these birds are fed 450 grams of food every meal, 2-3 meals per day, which is significantly more than what these birds would eat normally in the wild.
Just like everything in life, “too much is too bad”. The livers of these birds can swell up to 10 times their normal size, which can propose multiple health risks for these birds. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) cited that “birds force-fed for foie gras had a mortality rate up to 20 times that of a control group of birds who were not force-fed”, now that we know mortality rates are higher for birds used for foie gras, let’s investigate some health risks that are proposed by gavage and the environment they live in as it could have an impact on their mortality.
As explained briefly earlier, force-feeding causes these birds to eat more than what they would usually eat normally, causing their liver to be abnormally huge, causing impaired liver function and difficulty standing. However, there are also other consequences force-feeding proposes. To elaborate, force-feeding expands the lower part of the esophagus and increases heat production, panting, diarrhea, and damage to the sternum. Other than being slaughtered, it is common for a bird to die of aspiration pneumonia which occurs when food is forced into the bird’s lungs or when birds choke on their vomit. (Skippon 403) (PETA).
Despite force-feeding ethical concerns, there are also concerns regarding the living environment these birds are exposed to. For a visual explanation, birds are kept in extremely small wired cages, so small that they can’t sit down or use their beaks to groom themselves. As mentioned earlier, these birds weigh a lot and have trouble standing, added on that their cages are so small they could not sit in their cages, leaving them to stand all day, despite struggling to stand, this shows how cruel the living conditions are in foie gras factory farms. Additionally, the fact that they cannot use their beaks to clean up themselves, leaves them to be vulnerable to various types of illnesses and variants of diseases, in fact, in some cases, birds may die due to untreated illnesses or injuries due to the living environment in these factory farms. With the small amount of space, they are required to work with, they can experience fungal infections, heat stress, lesions, and injuries to their webbed feet (Animal Equality) (PETA). Now that we have a grasp on the main controversy of Foie Gras, it is also vital to know what society is doing regarding this topic (PETA).
Currently, numerous countries have taken action against this issue by banning foie gras production, these countries include the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Norway, Poland, Turkey, and Israel (Animal Equality). However, it is important to acknowledge that as long as there’s demand for foie gras, foie gras production and the birds’ suffering will continue. Therefore, if you can prohibit eating foie gras, switch to alternatives, or eat less of it.
Fortunately, there is a Spanish Farm that makes foie gras without force-feeding. This farm is owned by Eduardo Sousa and Diego Labourdette. Sousa is a fifth-generation Spanish farmer, while Labourdette is an ecologist and migratory bird expert. They teamed up to find an alternative method to achieve foie gras without animal welfare. Their foie gras is made from wild geese that come down to Spain once a year to gorge on acorns and olives before flying south for the winter. They also explained their painless method of harvesting the liver in which they paralyze the geese with flashlights which makes the bird feels hypnotized, that’s when they would use a knife and sacrifice it. With their skills, it takes little time, causing the birds to not suffer (Frayer, Lauren).
With more sustainable and ethical alternative methods like Sousa and Labourdette, it could advance the future of cooking and increase sustainability within the industry where there are many ethical concerns.
Works Cited
“Foie Gras: Cruelty to Ducks and Geese.” PETA, 21 Dec. 2020, https://www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-food/factory-farming/ducks-geese/foie-gras/.
Frayer, Lauren. “This Spanish Farm Makes Foie Gras without Force-Feeding.” NPR, NPR, 1 Aug. 2016, https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2016/08/01/487088946/this-spanish-farm-makes-foie-gras-without-force-feeding.
Skippon, Warren. “The Animal Health and Welfare Consequences of Foie Gras Production.” The Canadian Veterinary Journal = La Revue Veterinaire Canadienne, U.S. National Library of Medicine, Apr. 2013, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3595949/.
“What Is Foie Gras?” Animal Equality, 21 Sept. 2022, https://animalequality.org/blog/2022/02/08/what-is-foie-gras/#:~:text=Foie%20gras%20is%20one%20of,ten%20times%20its%20normal%20size.
— Writer Khwanchanok (JiaJia) Paka-Akaralerdkul can be reached at jiajiakhwanchanok@gmail.com. Follow her on Instagram @jiajiakp and Facebook Khwanchanok Paka-Akaralerdkul.
