Animal welfare charities are calling for London food emporium Fortnum and Mason to be stripped of its Royal Warrant, for continuing to sell foie gras.

The expensive and highly profitable delicacy is made from the livers of ducks and geese, grossly enlarged to eight or nine times their normal size by force-feeding the birds huge quantities of grain before slaughter, a process many feel is cruel.

There are now other goose and duck liver products available in the UK that don’t rely on force-feeding. (See letters section of Event Organisers Update, February, for more information).