Media Release

5th December 2006

Lidl Withdraws Foie-Gras ?Torture in a Tin?

Campaigning animal group Viva! has congratulated supermarket chain Lidl for their decision to end the sale of foie-gras in all of their British stores. The move follows Viva! providing the chain with disturbing information showing the inherent cruelty behind its production.

Foie-gras is produced by force feeding ducks or geese large amounts of food so that their livers swell to up to 10 times the normal size. A pipe is shoved down the bird's oesophagus and food is forced into the stomach. The process is repeated two or three times daily for two to three weeks until the birds develop fatty liver disease. The birds are then slaughtered. 90 per cent of birds used in foie-gras production are ducks.

Foie-gras is not produced in Britain, as the Government has made it clear that its production would contravene existing animal welfare regulations. However, it is legal to import it. Its production has also been outlawed in Poland, Denmark, Germany, Norway and Israel.

In light of the information provided by Viva!, a spokesman from Lidl has pledged that the chain will never stock foie-gras again.

In 2004, Viva! successfully campaigned in California to pass legislation outlawing both the production and selling of foie-gras. Viva!?s long running campaign against the factory farming of ducks has also ended the debeaking of ducks raised for meat. Most recently, Waitrose have credited Viva! for their decision to allow their own-label ducks access to water for swimming.

?Foie-gras is torture in a tin?, says Viva! Senior Campaigner Justin Kerswell. ?There is nothing humane about mechanically inducing disease in a bird by forcing a pipe down its throat and making it consume such an abnormal quantity of food that its liver expands many times its normal size. We welcome Lidl?s decision to pledge never to sell this barbarism disguised as a delicacy again ? and ask consumers everywhere to reject foie-gras for good and go vegetarian.?

Notes for Editors

For more information on Viva!?s campaign against the factory farming of ducks or undercover investigations, contact Justin Kerswell or Tony Wardle on 0117 944 1000 or 07862 173377, email justin@viva.org.uk, or visit http://www.viva.org.uk/ducks

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