Gordon Ramsay faces backlash from animal
welfare activists
19-11-2009 by Edward Devlin, Click Lancashire, UK
Animal activitists have slammed TV celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay for promoting the French delicacy Foie Gras which is described as "a disease marketed as a delicacy". The foul-mouthed chef triggered the row when cooking contestants on the latest episode of his Channel 4 show The F Word served the dish in a cook-off competition.
Foie Gras - "fatty liver" - is produced by force feeding ducks or geese until their livers swell-up to ten times the normal size.
Ramsay described the luxury food item as a "chef’s ultimate ingredient" and "rich, sumptuous, melt in your mouth and absolutely delicious".
But there is no ban on importing or purchasing the controversial ingredient, which is protected in French law as a part of the country’s cultural and gastronomical heritage.
Ramsay’s programme comes after the high-end department store Selfridges stopped selling the product after a campaign by Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) fronted by Sir Roger Moore.
A spokesman for PETA said: "Gordon Ramsay does a lot of things for effect, but these days using Foie Gras is the equivalent of holding a bullfight in the UK.
"In Britain, it is illegal to put ducks and geese into a wire cage so small that they cannot stretch a single wing, and to force-feed them so that their livers grotesquely inflate and often rupture.
"The Prince of Wales has banned Foie Gras from his table. The Pope has denounced it and many airlines and restaurants have removed it from their menus.
"It is only a matter of time before Foie Gras is relegated to the history books where it belongs."
John Callaghan, director of programmes for Compassion In World Farming, said: "When high-profile figures glamourise products like this it is a setback to the campaigns aiming to expose the levels of cruelty involved.
"Foie Gras is not natural. There is nothing natural about having tubes literally rammed down a bird's throats and then pumping food into them until their livers grow ten times their normal size.
"It is incredibly cruel."
A RSPCA spokesman said: "It’s disappointing that Gordon Ramsay hasn’t recognised the really serious welfare concerns there are with Foie Gras.
"Watching the F Word you could see that the liver was huge and crystallised with fat.
"The process totally impairs the liver's functions and basically causes the death of that bird by overfeeding."
West Midlands Lib/Dem MEP Liz Lynne campaigns to have Foie Gras banned throughout Europe.
Mrs Lynne Said: "It is depressing to think that many people will now go out and buy more Foie Gras because of this programme, perhaps without realizing how cruel the production process is.
"It is completely unlike other forms of meat production which can be very humane. You can produce fantastic gourmet quality food by cherishing animals, there is no need for this cruelty.
"The time has come for an outright ban of long term force feeding in agricultural production.
"I will continue to call for a ban on Foie Gras at an EU level until this barbaric practice is brought to an end."
A spokesman for Channel 4 said: "The F Word's Foie Gras came from a highly reputable French supplier. Foie Gras is a very traditional French food that is served in many restaurants throughout Britain and has been a well-established part of our food landscape for many decades."
(Bron: http://www.clicklancashire.com/)
(Bron foto: archief Kraaijer)
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