SCIENCE AND EXPERTS:

The Welfare of Ducks and Geese in Foie Gras Production: A summary of the Scientific and Empirical Evidence Click here for report.

2005 New York State pathologist report that foie gras birds were killed by force feeding. Click here for report. Read article by same pathologist.

According to an 88-page report issued by the European Scientific Committee on Animal Health and Animal Welfare, entitled "Welfare Aspects of the Production of Foie Gras in Ducks and Geese":

The problems of the force feeding procedure are: (1) handling by humans which, in the commercial force feeding situation, can cause aversion and discomfort for ducks and geese, (2) the potentially damaging and distressing effects of the tube which is inserted into the oesophagus, (3) the rapid intubation of a large volume of food. . . ducks at the end of the force feeding period can have serious injuries to the oesophagus. . . It seems likely that birds have sufficient damage to oesophagus tissue, caused by the force feeding process to have been painful to the birds.. . There is good evidence that liver structure and function that would be classified as normal is severely altered and compromised in force fed ducks and geese. . . because normal liver function is seriously impaired in birds with the hyperatrophied liver which occurs at the end of force feeding the level of steatosis should be considered pathological. . . It is clear that steatosis and other effects of force feeding are lethal when the procedures are continued."

Click here to read the full report.

Dr. D.J. Alexander, a member of the EU Expert Committee, has stated, "The only recommendation the Committee can properly make is that force feeding of ducks and geese should stop and this could be best achieved by the prohibition of the production, importation, distribution and sale of foie gras."

Dr. Holly Cheever, a veterinarian who has has inspected the United States’ largest foie gras producer on three different occasions between January, 1991 and November, 2005, has testified as to the cruelty inherent in foie gras production.

Click here to read Dr. Cheever's explanations of the suffering experienced by birds raised for foie gras.

Dr. Laurie Siperstein-Cook, an avian veterinarian who examined and treated several foie gras ducks, has stated, "I believe that the conditions described, under which these birds were kept and the fact that they had been force-fed to create an obese and unhealthy state constitutes unnecessary cruelty."

Dr. Siperstein-Cook has also stated, in reference to the fattening of the liver for foie Gras production, that "The liver is there to clean out toxins from the blood stream. If the liver can't work properly, you've got all these toxins flowing through the blood, making them feel bad in various ways, so it can harm various organs as well as the brain."

Click here to read Dr. Siperstein-Cook's full statement.

Dr. Emily Levine, a veterinarian and ethology expert, after viewing video footage of ducks on a foie Gras farm, has stated:

I have several professional concerns about the methods used to raise these birds. . .. . although these animals have a genetic predisposition to store larger amounts of fat in their liver, they do so for the specific purpose of preparing to migrate. The birds in the industry do not migrate and do not presumably receive the external environmental cues that would normally signal them to begin to eat more than usual. In addition to this, under natural situations, the birds eat a particular amount voluntarily. In light of that, it is a false statement that the techniques the industry uses is simply mimicking a natural behavior. Despite the misrepresentation of the industry using natural techniques, force-feeding in itself can cause significant discomfort.

Click here for Dr. Levine's full statement.

An autopsy performed on a foie Gras duck in July 2003 notes, "Bacterial infection in the upper GI tract.. . .accompanied by severe impaction of the crop and esophagus." It goes on to state that "[w]ithin the liver, there is severe, diffuse macrovesicular lipidosis. The epithelium of the crop and esophagus is hyperplastic with severe hyperkeratosis."

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations has declared:

The production of fatty liver for foie Gras, however, raises serious animal welfare issues and it is not a practice that is condoned by FAO. Currently European Union legislation allows force feeding to continue only in traditional areas of production. This situation could easily change and more restrictive legislation introduced. Elsewhere, a number of European states have already decided to ban altogether foie Gras production including Poland.

Hrayr Berberoglu, a Professor Emeritus of Hospitality and Tourism Management specializing in Food and Beverage, has been quoted as saying that "Force-feeding is by all accounts a cruel way of raising an animal. . . the liver is made incapable of functioning, thus becoming excessively fatty and smooth."

New York State Department of Environmental Conservation senior wildlife pathologist Ward Stone, who has necropsied force-fed ducks, said in a 1991 letter to Sullivan County Animal Control that "[t]his type of treatment and farming of waterfowl is outside the acceptable norms of agriculture and sane treatment of animals."

In his 1979 thesis, "Inspection des viandes Des oies et Des canards Gras," presented to the Ecole Nationale Veterinaire de Toulouose (ENVT) in France, Dr. Castets states:


At the end of their fattening the animals present the following signs:
- a heavy weight gain (may double),
- Pale skin and mucosas,
- A coat " sticky " because of a greasy coating
- Difficulty walking, abdominal ptosis (heavy abdomen) and dyspnea (panting).

... " If the fattening process continues, the animals lie down, exhausted, asphyxiated, to die..."

This is the result of an endogenous intoxication due to the hepatic impairment; the liver can no longer play its role as a circulatory filter. As a result, various metabolites appear in the blood that are usually stopped by the liver (ammonium, mercaptans, short-chain antigens) and that may then reach the central nervous system (particularly sensitive to these compounds) and trigger central nervous troubles such as:
- cerclage movements,
- eptileptiform crisis
- Increase of the intracranial pressure accompanied by migraines, and finally stupor, coma and death.
. . . Beyond the hepatic and perihepatic lesions already evoked, steatosis is part of a global pathologic process which ultimate level is non-reversible and leads to the death of the individual due to hepatic failure. . . This proves that fattened animals develop, to various degrees, depending on their sensitivity, hepatic pathologies provoked by steatosis. Steatosis cannot be considered a normal physiological process ; a steatosic liver is indeed a pathologic liver.

Click here to read more of Dr. Castet's report.

French veterinarian Dr. Yvan Beck, in his comprehensive study, "The force-feeding of poultry and the production of foie gras" writes:

foie gras is in fact a diseased liver. . . Forced feeding of waterfowl, or food induced hepatic steatosis, leads to pathological changes in the liver which cause undeniable suffering to these animals. The economic goal of the process is to effect the maximum change to this organ in the minimum amount of time in order to maximize profits. It must, however, be ended before the manifestations of degeneration, which are unavoidable beyond a certain point, affect the quality (the powdery texture) of the product or the overall health of the birds. . . . Moreover, at the end of this process the birds are unable to make the slightest exertion, which is the direct opposite of the purpose [of fatty buildup] under natural conditions. . .There is no comparison between the natural buildup of fats by waterfowl before migration, which occurs in peripheral tissue (50% in the breast area), and the extreme conditions which result from forced feeding.


A group of nearly fifty New York veterinarians signed on to a petition declaring foie gras production to be animal cruelty and calling for it to be banned in the state.

The World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) issued a February 2000 report entitled "Forced Feeding: An inquiry into the welfare of ducks and geese kept for the production of foie gras," in which it quotes Dr. Heimann, a veterinary pathologist, as saying, "The liver steatosis caused by 'gavage' is a pathological process that shows itself first by a fatty degerneration of the hepatic cells and then by necrosis. The fatty liver cannot be seen as normal. It is a categorical sign of a state of illness with clinical symptoms."

Also quoted in the 2000 WSPA report is veterinarian Dr. Eric Dunayer, who explained that the liver steatosis induced by forced feeding would "cause the animals to suffer from severe, debilitating metabolic diseases" and that "since the liver is the site of detoxification of. . . many substances, these chemicals will accumulate in the blood and cause an animal to feel sick, upset normal cell function, and can lead to coma and death."

The 2000 WSPA report also cites the comments of two other veterinarians commenting on necropsies performed on foie gras ducks:

a. "Animals in this condititon would experience constant pain. . . I consider the production of foie gras to be inhumane as it deliberately harms the duck."
b. "Having seen firsthand the terrible suffering of ducks. . . confirmed by autopsy reports. . . I am forced to conclude that foie gras is produced at a terrible cost to the birds themselves. Foie gras, touted as a gourmet delicacy to entice the palate, is really only the diseased tissue of a tortured, sick animal."

Christine Nichol, a Professor of Animal Welfare at the School of Veterinary Science at the University of Bristol, states:

My view on the production of foie gras is clear and supported by biological evidence. This practice causes unacceptable suffering to these animals. . . It causes pain during and as a consequence of the force feeding, feelings of malaise as the body struggles to cope with extreme nutrient imbalance and distress caused by loss of control over the birds' most basic homeostatic regulation mechanism as their hunger control system is over-ridden.

In February 2004, Dr. Ian Duncan, a poultry welfare expert and professor in Applied Ethology at the University of Guelph in Canada, issued a "Statement against the force-feeding of ducks and geese." In it, he explains that

"[f]orce feeding quickly results in birds that are obese and in a pathological state, called hepatic lipidosis or fatty liver disease. There is no doubt that in this pathological state, the birds will feel very ill. In my view it is completely unethical to deliberately promote a diseased state in an animal. The birds' obesity will lead to a myriad of other problems from skeletal disorders to difficulties in coping with heat stress and all of which are accompanied by feelings of malaise."

Statement by Jay Holcomb, Director and Karen Benzel, Public Affairs Director, International Bird Rescue Research Center (IBRRC)

Statement by Nedim C. Buyukmihci a veterinarian with 30 years' experience

Does foie gras amount to cruel and unusual punishment? — with an absolute yes.

The birds do suffer during the feeding process. A stomach tube is rapidly forced through the esophagus into the stomach, sometimes leading to injury, and the huge amount of food being forced into the stomach causes harm in and of itself. Not only does the liver become enlarged, it also malfunctions, so the birds are chronically ill. The ducks are kept in crowded conditions, and their bills, which are rich in nerve endings, are removed with scissors, which causes acute and chronic pain and prevents normal feeding and preening.

When you consider what these birds must endure — and the many other food choices available--it seems that promoting foie gras reflects human indulgence at its worst.

On September 26, 2006, Alderman Joe Moore was joined at a press conference by humane groups, animal experts, religious leaders and legal scholars to express strong support for Chicago’s ban on selling foie gras. Click here for written statements in support of the ban on foie gras.