Foie Gras, the fatty liver produced by  overfeeding ducks and geese, is one of the worlds most expensive foods, it is also one of the cruellest in order to achieve the desired taste and texture, ducks and geese are force fed two or three times a day with up to half a kilo of grain and fat.  This feeding regime has devistating consequences for the welfare of the ducks and geese.  After two or three weeks, when the birds are ready for slaughter, their livers will have swollen to between 6 and 10 times their natural size.

More than 90% of birds  kept for foie gras production are ducks.  this is because they are cheaper to keep and feed.  most ducks are permanantly in cages so small that they are unable to stand up or stretch their wings properly.  Only the bird's neck protrudes from the cage, allowing the feeder to grab the ducks neck and force the beak open.  The food is delivered by force through a funnel fitted with a 20-30 cm long tube which is thrust down the ducks gullet.  The tube consists of an auger or pneumatic system that forces maize into the oesophagus.  in this way, a single operater can force feed more than a thousand birds in less than an hour.  studies have shown that this treatment can cause terrible injuries to ducks and geese including bruising  and tearing of the neck.  Birds also die from asphyxiation if the feeder accidentially pushes the food into the windpipe.  This duck on the left had his neck punctured by having the force feeding tube brutally forced down his throat.  The wound was left untreated and because the duck was confined, flies laid their eggs in the wound and maggots began eating the duck alive.

  Their confinement prevents ducks and geese from performing all the behaviour patterns the would normally adopt.  In their natural state they live in social groups and spends long peroiods of time in water.  Much of their day is devoted to searching for food and looking after their plumage by bathing and preening.  ducks confined in cages are unable to walk, turn around, or clean their feathers.

As force feeding continues, the trauma caused to the birds becomes more and more severe.  After one week many may develop accute enteritis and diarrhoea .  Their neck fethers may become curled and sticky.  Their livers gradually expand in size making it difficult for the ducks or geese to move or even breathe properly.  Observers have reported that the birds pant constantly during the later stages of the force feeding cycle.  Their increasing weightcan cause blisters as their breasts rub on the cage floor.  Apart from being fed more than they would eat naturally, the diet foie gras bird is deliberately deficient in the basic nutirents  ducks and geese need.  This ensures  that the liver accumulates  so much fat that it no longer functions properly,  A reduced calcium intake is also thought to contribute to the fact that between 30 and 70 percent of birds examined at the slaughterhouses suffer from multiple bone fractures.

One researcher into the foie gras industy concluded that the 'skill' of forcefeeding was judging the best  moment to stop  before the bird died from illness.  Post mortems have shown birds suffering from cardiac and renal failure, and liver haemorrhage. in short they are in an advanced state of disease