Hungary is one of the world’s largest producers of libamáj, (goose liver), which is also one of the world’s more controversial food items when prepared as foie gras. Last week, after an article mentioning how Hungary’s Animal Protection Council denounced animal rights group the Four Paws Foundation for forcing the closure of a forced-feeding plant over at caboodle.hu, a rather emotional response from a reader in New Hampshire arrived in our mailbox, highlighting just how divided people can be on the topic of goose livers.
The successful campaign by the Four Paws foundation is why goose liver producers are now demanding legal protection, after the group’s campaign resulted in losses of Ft 2 billion this year, writes Index.hu. It is expected that a total of 900 people will lose their jobs as a result of Four Paws mostly targeting the country’s leading producer Hungerit. Meanwhile, the Poultry Product Council fears that the whole industry, employing 5,000 people, may disappear.
László Bárány, chairman of the council, said that the campaign turned serious two months ago when 10 German and Austrian chains boycotted Hungerit’s products, citing a black list created by animal rights protestors. Around 10 chains stopped purchasing the Hungarian producer’s products, going beyond those containing liver and also including products made from chicken. This in turn provided an advantage to Western competitors.
The industry wants to receive legal protection similar to that which is in effect in France, in addition to modifying the animal protection law to prevent force feeding technologies harmful to the animals from entering the country.
The current situation is not a result of a lack of regulations but the confrontation of ethical requirements and a Hungarian tradition, Miklós Süth, state secretary of the agriculture ministry told Inforadio.hu. As a compromise, he offered animal rights activists fighting for a ban on fattened goose liver that the packaging of products made from such liver would in the future tell what method was used to feed the poultry. Süth said that in return, they would expect activists to state their opinions on the activity – based on ethical issues – and not on a single company, which places the industry in a difficult position.
Hungary’s animal protection law, effective since 1998, states that force feeding geese and ducks is allowed. The state secretary also pointed out that in June, Parliament accepted a decision which declared protection for “hungaricums,” including fattened goose liver. Similarly, French laws protect fattened goose liver produced in France, Süth added.
Hungary produces 2,500 to 2,600 tons of goose and duck liver annually, the second largest amount in the world, behind France. The 1,600 tons of non-fattened goose liver produced in the country is over 80% of the world’s production. 80% to 85% of Hungary’s goose liver production is exported, most of which goes to France, in turn bringing in revenues of Ft 25 billion each year.
Who on earth runs that Animal Protection Council? The meat/dairy industry by any chance?
Good riddance to an outdated, disgusting industry, already illegal in all but a handful countries.
The geese or ducks used in foie gras production are usually kept outside for some weeks, feeding on grasses that toughen the esophagus. The birds are then brought inside for gradually longer periods while introduced to a high starch diet. The next feeding phase involves forced daily ingestion of controlled amounts of feed for 12 to 15 days with ducks and for 15 to 18 days with geese…In modern production, the bird is typically fed a controlled amount of feed, depending on the stage of the fattening process, its weight, and the amount of feed it last ingested. At the start of production, a bird might be fed a dry weight of 250 grams (9 oz) of food per day, and up to 1,000 grams (35 oz) (in dry weight) by the end of the process. The actual amount of food force-fed is much greater, since the birds are fed a mash whose composition is about 53% dry and 47% liquid (by weight).
The feed is administered using a funnel fitted with a long tube (20–30 cm long), which forces the feed into the animal’s esophagus; if an auger is used, the feeding takes about 45 to 60 seconds. Modern systems usually use a tube fed by a pneumatic pump; with such a system the operation time per duck takes about 2 to 3 seconds.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Foiegras4.jpg
I’ve seen ducks smarter than duck-rights-activists. These people seriously need to get a life. I wonder if they would go after the barbaric kosher slaughter rituals? Probably not.
Does getting a life mean refraining from taking an interest in the lives of other beings? Does one kind of barbarity become acceptable if held against a barbarity of another kind? Probably we are going after all of them – profitable cruelty and fairytale mumbo-jumbo alike.
paddy – i will refer you to stan’s comments on pestiside. you are hitting your head against a wall here. anybody who can drag the jews into a post on goose liver….
Paddy is probably a level 5 vegan, and he/she thinks it’s his mission from God to be annoying.
Well, I happen to know a little more about animals as Paddy, I don’t need Wikipedia to tell you all about the life of food animals. It’s not fun and then they get killed. There are two normal reaction to this fact: either you accept it and eat the yummy goose liver, or you oppose the practice, and chew on an innocent carrot instead. Everything else would be un-civilized. Terrorizing other people to stop producing and eating meat puts you into the insane crowd. A protein starved brain can play tricks on you, have a burger or something and think it over.
I would never eat an innocent carrot. A casual check of wikipedia will confirm for you the true horror – wrenched painfully from its home, skinning, and baths of boiling water. I need to sit down.
And the angel of the lord came unto me, snatching me up from my place of slumber. And took me on high, and higher still until we moved to the spaces betwixt the air itself. And he brought me into a vast farmlands of our own midwest. And as we descended, cries of impending doom rose from the soil. One thousand, nay a million voices full of fear. And terror possesed me then. And I begged, “Angel of the Lord, what are these tortured screams?” And the angel said unto me, “These are the cries of the carrots, the cries of the carrots! You see, Reverend Maynard, tomorrow is harvest day and to them it is the holocaust.” And I sprang from my slumber drenched in sweat like the tears of one million terrified brothers and roared, “Hear me now, I have seen the light! They have a consciousness, they have a life, they have a soul! Damn you! Let the rabbits wear glasses! Save our brothers!” Can I get an amen? Can I get a hallelujah? Thank you Jesus.
Life feeds on life feeds on life feeds on life feeds on…….
I’m glad somebody has finally rationalized my diet of puppies and unicorns!
Puppies taste much better than geese anyway! Cats are sort fo tough to chew on but puppies yumm!!!
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