Natalie Bennett, leader of The Green Party said: “The production of foie gras is deeply inhumane. The Green Party is entirely opposition to this unjustifiable and pointless cruelty and calls for the sale of it to be banned in Briatin.
“Water fowl, geese and ducks, are taken away from any contact with their natural element, squeezed into tiny wire cages, and can end up with a liver the size of a rugby ball – just imagine a comparably proportionedtumour in your abdomen.
“This can be taken as an extreme example of the damage done to animal welfare by factory farming in general.
“It’s also a reminder that our current global system of feeding huge quantities of grain to animals, to produce relatively small quantities of meat, is not environmentally sustainable, and will not produce the quantities of food we need to feed a growing world population.”
Over 100,000 signatures will be handed over to the French Ambassador at the French Embassy in Knightsbridge on Thursday at 2pm as part of the international day against foie gras.
France is responsible for 75 per cent of the world’s foie gras production which involves the cruelty and suffering of 80 million birds per year. It is produced by force-feeding birds locked in tiny cages, with excessive amounts of grain, using a metal tube thrust down the crop. The bird’s liver swells to ten times its original size in just two weeks. Many birds die as a consequence of wounds or infections caused by the metal tube or due to vital organ failure.