Humane cages for foie gras ducks

FARMERS will be forced to use more humane methods to force-feed ducks for foie gras under new EU rules.

Many birds are kept in small individual cages while being force-fed in the weeks before slaughter. In future collective cages will have to be used which allow them to stand and turn without difficulty, preen, beat their wings, and “interact”.

Ducks are force-fed to make their livers large and tender and restriction in individual cages makes it easy to feed them very quickly. The new cage rule was supposed to take effect at the end of 2010 but France gave its farmers until December 2015, an EU spokeswoman said.

Farmer Isabelle Kuster, of Badefols-sur-Dordogne, said the changes are more humane adding that some farmers, like her, never adopted the methods anyway as they are stressful for the ducks. Geese are not kept in individual cages.