Shockingly, one of the world’s largest online retailers is selling a product in Britain that no British supermarket will touch.

Foie-gras is produced by force-feeding ducks and geese so much food that their livers expand by up to ten times its natural size. It is no wonder that foie-gras has been dubbed ‘torture in a tin’.

Amazon do not allow the sale of whale or dolphin meat, so why do they sell and allow third-party sellers to offer foie-gras? Especially, as its production would be illegal in Britain because of animal cruelty.

Please ask Amazon to dump foie-gras from their online grocery store. Use our suggested message below.

The terror of the cages

Viva! is working in association with French group Stop Gavage/L214 to expose the true face of foie-gras production in France – where the vast majority is still produced.

A recent investigation at a farm belonging to a producer (Labeyrie), whose products are currently on sale on Amazon, shows distressing scenes of ducks being force-fed huge amounts of grain with pneumatic pumps.

These birds are in group cages – which are theoretically a welfare improvement over individual cages used by most foie-gras producers for ducks in France. However, to incapacitate them and prevent them from avoiding being force-fed, an automatic bar pins the ducks to the floor of the cage. There is no escape.

Ducks can bruise easily, and it is feared that this new system will only compound the abject suffering and terror of France’s 38-40 million birds force-fed annually. What ethical retailer would support this by taking a cut of the profits?

No excuses

As Amazon allows a platform for foie-gras to be sold on their UK website it seems that they are condoning this cruelty. As a major retailer they have the power to take an ethical stand and prevent suffering. Contact them today and politely ask them to dump foie-gras.

Sign the petition!

Click here to add you signature and tell Amazon to stop selling foie-gras.

Contact Amazon

Online Day of Action, Saturday 9 March 2013: it doesn't matter when you contact Amazon (as long as you do!), but we're encouraging as many people to email them on Saturday 9 March. Invite your friends and family to do so, too!

Phone: Customer services (Freephone) 0800 496 1081

Write: Amazon HQ, Patriot Court, 1-9 The Grove, Slough, Berkshire SL1 1QP

Email: Use our handy one-click form to email Amazon HQ direct.

Online: www.amazon.co.uk > Help > contact us (sign in or not) > fill in form (note: Amazon do not have a customer services email address. You have to contact them through their online webforms. You do not have to be signed in nor a customer to do so (but your message may carry more weight if you are an existing customer of theirs)).

Suggested email

“Dear Amazon

As a customer of yours I was shocked to discover that you are selling foie-gras and providing a platform for third-party sellers to offer it on your UK website.

Foie-gras is the grossly enlarged liver of a duck or goose and is essentially a disease, marketed as a delicacy. Around 38-40 million birds raised for this 'gourmet' cruelty each year in France; they are force-fed enormous quantities of food through a long metal pipe, two or three times a day. This process of deliberate and painful overfeeding continues for up to a month by which time the birds' livers have swelled to ten times their normal size. Every year, around a million ducks die during this period of force-feeding.

Foie-gras is not produced in Britain, as the Government has made it clear that its production would contravene existing animal welfare regulations.

No supermarket in Britain sells foie-gras, as they have taken an ethical choice not to do so. I am aware that you already ban the sale of dolphin and whale meat on Amazon.co.uk. I strongly urge you to take an ethical policy regarding foie-gras and do likewise. If you do not I will have to consider taking my online custom elsewhere.

Yours faithfully”

Find our more about Viva!'s campaign for a foie-gras free Britain

Find out what else you can do

Read our fact sheet

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