The whole force-feeding process is so cruel that it is rightly illegal in the UK under The Welfare of Farmed Animals (England) Regulations 2007, and many British institutions, including both houses of Parliament, have banished it from their menus.

While logic would dictate that a product too cruel to produce here should also be too cruel to sell, animal protection groups are told that EU trade laws would prohibit such a ban.

Brexit, however, has changed things, and we can now demand that the UK government align its actions with British principles by banning the import and sale of foie gras – a move that would be supported by 79 per cent of Brits.

The process termed ‘gavage’ is actually banned in the EU under Article three of the European Convention for the Protection of Animals Kept for Farming Purposes, save for in five countries, including France, that have been granted an exemption. This is much to the outrage of the over 50 per cent of French people who want to see force-feeding banned.

Ending the vile industry wouldn’t just be in the interests of the approximately 40 million sensitive, intelligent ducks and geese deliberately made ill for foie gras each year in the EU, or the many EU member states allowing imports. It would benefit all of us by reducing the very real danger the industry poses of being ground zero for the next global pandemic.

As I write, France has just been ravaged by bird flu, which led to the culling of millions of ducks, and last month, Russia reported the first case of a bird flu strain – H5N8 – being passed from poultry to humans. That’s hardly surprising when you know that animal-exploiting industries pack sick, stressed, and injured animals together, making it very easy for infectious diseases to spread through the exchange of urine, excrement, pus, and blood. Animals with infections, sores, and festering, open wounds are a common sight on foie gras farms.

According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, approximately 75 per cent of recently emerged infectious diseases affecting humans originated in other animals. Amidst the continuing global COVID-19 pandemic, it’s time we all made the connection between the suffering we inflict on animals and major disease outbreaks around the world.

Please sign this petition and get the UK Govt. to bring forward a bill to ban the import of this product of cruelty.