In April, Israel instituted a ban on force-feeding geese and ducks in order to produce foie gras, despite a delaying tactic by its Ministry of Agriculture who is trying to save the industry from closure.

The ban is the result of a campaign led by Anonymous for Animal Rights (AAR), with support from the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) and comes two years after the Supreme Court in Israel ruled that the production of foie gras causes unacceptable suffering and is therefore in violation of the law. Enforcement of the judge's ruling – a landmark decision for animal welfare – was deferred until 2005 amid fears an immediate ban would cause job losses in the recession-hit Israeli economy.

A goose being force-fed to produce foie gras.

Foie gras is pate produced by force-feeding geese and ducks several times every day, greatly exceeding the quantity that the birds would normally eat. A metal tube is inserted into the birds' throats so that food can be compressed into their stomachs. The process causes the birds' livers to enlarge by up to 10 times their normal size and often results in degenerative disease.

Israel's Ministry of Agriculture now hopes to save the foie gras industry from closure by sponsoring an experiment aimed at developing a more ‘humane' method of production that would not contradict the animal protection law.  The method being tested uses a flexible tube instead of a metal tube to force-feed geese and ducks. Requests by the Ministry for the ban to be delayed until 2006 were finally rejected earlier this year. 

Leah Garcés, WSPA's Campaigns Director, said, “This is fantastic news and we hope that other countries will follow Israel's example and make the force-feeding of animals illegal. However, as long as people continue to eat foie gras, the suffering of these animals will continue and producers will seek to find ways to exploit loopholes in the law.”

A six-year campaign by animal welfare groups, including AAR, WSPA and Noah(The Israeli Association of Animal Protection Organizations), was responsible for changing the opinion of the Israeli public to a point where foie gras is now perceived as a morally defective food.

Israel produces about 300 tons of foie gras a year. France is the leading producer, followed by Hungary and Bulgaria.