Current Press Releases

New York City Residents Ask Fairway Markets To Say No To Foie Gras

Animal Advocates to Convene Weekly to Educate Fairway Market Shoppers About the Cruelty of Foie Gras

New York, NY - February 9, 2007 - This Sunday, animal advocates will gather in front of Fairway Market on the upper west side (Broadway and 75th Street) to encourage shoppers to call on the business to remove foie gras from its shelves. Farm Sanctuary, the nation’s leading farm animal shelter and advocacy organization, has joined with local animal protection organizations and concerned citizens to launch the NYC Say No to Foie Gras Campaign. The coalition aims to inform consumers and encourage retail food establishments not to sell foie gras.

Foie gras (translated from French as “fatty liver”) is produced by force-feeding ducks and geese two or three times each day through a pipe shoved down their throats. The force-feeding can cause painful bruising, lacerations, sores, and even organ rupture. Due to this unhealthy and unnatural diet, the birds’ livers become diseased and swell up to 10 times their normal size, making it difficult for the birds to walk or even breathe. Veterinarians and other animal experts, along with religious leaders, businesses and legal scholars, have called for an end to the cruelty of foie gras.

In December, Fairway Market employees posted a sign at their store proclaiming the business “Foie Gras Central” and citing misleading claims regarding the welfare of ducks raised for foie gras. Animal advocates spoke to the store’s management and handed out informative leaflets in front of Fairway, resulting in an apology and the removal of the sign. Now, advocates are requesting that the market remove foie gras from its shelves entirely.

“Fairway called attention to itself by displaying an insensitive and misleading sign promoting foie gras,” said Gene Baur, president of Farm Sanctuary. “After hearing from concerned shoppers, they removed the offensive sign. We hope Fairway will go one step further and take a truly compassionate stance by removing foie gras from its shelves altogether. Foie gras is a product of egregious cruelty, and it has no place in a society that values compassion.”

The NYC Say No to Foie Gras Campaign will continue its efforts with Fairway via weekly leafleting actions at the Broadway and 75th Street location beginning Sunday. “We will continue to inform Fairway’s shoppers of the cruelties inherent in foie gras until the market removes this product from its shelves,” Baur added.

More than a dozen countries have laws prohibiting foie gras production on ethical grounds. In 2004, California passed the first U.S. law to end the production and sale of foie gras in the state. On April 26, 2006, the Chicago City Council voted 48 to 1 to ban the sale of foie gras in the city limits. The ordinance went into effect on August 23, 2006.

A Zogby poll conducted in January revealed 73 percent of likely voters in the U.S. agree that foie gras production should be outlawed. Additional information about foie gras, legislation banning its sale or production as well as a list of restaurants and retail establishments in New York City that have pledged to not serve the product can be found at www.NoFoieGras.org.

Farm Sanctuary is the nation's leading farm animal protection organization. Since incorporating in 1986, Farm Sanctuary has worked to expose and stop cruel practices of the "food animal" industry through research and investigations, legal and institutional reforms, public awareness projects, youth education, and direct rescue and refuge efforts. Farm Sanctuary shelters in Watkins Glen, N.Y., and Orland, Calif., provide lifelong care for hundreds of rescued animals, who have become ambassadors for farm animals everywhere by educating visitors about the realities of factory farming. Additional information can be found at www.farmsanctuary.org or by calling 607-583-2225.