Tell Gordon Ramsay to Dump Foie Gras

In 2013 Viva!’s joint investigation with French group, L214 exposed suffering on an almost unimaginable scale on French foie gras farms. The footage is some of the most disturbing and heart-breaking we have seen in our 26-year history. At the centre of our investigation were farms supplying celebrity chef, Gordon Ramsay’s, restaurants.

We mounted a national campaign demanding that Gordon Ramsay dump foie gras immediately. Our exposé was published in the Daily Mirror. As a result of public pressure, Gordon Ramsay made the decision to dump the supplier, but continues to serve foie gras from other producers. The main ingredient of foie gras is suffering. Tell him to dump it all.

Watch the horrifying undercover footage

It proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that foie-gras production is so barbaric that it should have no place on British menus.

Please contact Gordon Ramsay and ask him to stop serving foie gras.

L214 investigation: Torture in a tin

The footage filmed at farms belonging to his then supplier shows ducks filthy with dirt, yellow corn and vomit. Barely able to move, let alone preen; they were encased in metal cages little bigger than their bodies. All to facilitate the inevitable forced-feeding needed to produce foie-gras.

The film shows ducks that simply could not take this twice-daily torture. Some cages contained lifeless bodies lying on the cold wire mesh. In others, those that were still barely alive panted and feebly tried to escape. One duck was so weak that his head hung from the bottom of his cage, pitifully calling for a mother who would never come. In another one duck’s eyelids twitch as life slipped away from him. His torture finally over.

worker force feeding a duck at a foie gras farm

Really just ducklings, they are killed at just over three months old. For those that survive that long their pain and fear is unimaginable. There are ducks with bloody injuries, some with swollen eyes and those seemingly crippled under the weight of their grossly enlarged livers.

A hidden camera left in the sheds captured the depressingly regular forced feeding. A brutality meted out with a casualness that says little about the terror it inflicts time and time again.

wounded duck in a cage

This all seems a far cry from what Gordon Ramsay tells his customers. His British restaurants used to boast that the suppliers he used were an “… industry leader in terms of animal welfare”. They make much of the weeks that the birds have a free-range existence, but say nothing of the cages, the pneumatic pipe and abject suffering they suffer once the doors of the sheds shut for the final time.

Although Gordon Ramsay no longer uses this supplier, he continues to serve foie gras in his UK restaurants.

duck comforting another duck in a cage

Foie gras companies often promote themselves with images of birds in fields. Yet what was found inside the walls of those six farms bore little resemblance to their promotional literature.

This is the reality of foie gras production – and similar scenes continue to happen across France at many other suppliers.

More investigation images

rows of ducks in cages
Ducks 1
duck in pain
Ducks 2
ducks in cages
Ducks 3

Tell Gordon Ramsay to dump foie gras!

Despite public backlash, celebrity chef, Gordon Ramsay continues to sell foie gras in his UK restaurants. Let him know that this is no longer acceptable by writing him a letter, email or posting a damning review!

Email: gordonenquiries@gordonramsay.com

Write: Gordon Ramsay Group, 1 Catherine Place, London, SW1E 6DX

Tel: 020 7592 1360

Review: Trustpilot

Example email

Dear Mr Ramsay,

I was horrified to learn that you continue to serve foie gras at your restaurants. Whilst I am aware that you have long defended its use, the footage obtained by Viva! shows filthy birds covered with feed and vomit. Some had bloody injuries and others were almost blinded. This is the reality of all foie-gras production. Dropping one supplier is one thing, but dumping all foie gras is the only ethical response.

I have always wanted to try eating at one of your restaurants but after hearing of your refusal to drop this cruel product, I will be boycotting all of your restaurants and will encourage others that I know to do the same.

Please ban this very unBritish cruelty from your restaurants.

Yours sincerely,

[Enter name]

Example review

For such a highly reputable chain, I am shocked that you continue to serve foie gras in your restaura. Foie gras is the grossly enlarged liver of a duck or goose and is essentially a disease, marketed as a delicacy. Birds raised for this ‘gourmet’ cruelty are force-fed enormous quantities of food through a long metal pipe, 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. The fact that you continue to endorse this practice by serving foie gras at your restaurants is deplorable. I will continue to boycott your restaurants and encourage others to do the same until you remove foie gras from your menus.

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