another action alert from alleged terrorist group PETA (People For The Ethical Treatment of Animals).


Whole Foods Supports Cruel Foie Gras Farming

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This may surprise you: “Caring” Whole Foods supports one of the cruelest forms of animal agriculture, the production of foie gras (fatty duck liver), by purchasing duck meat from Grimaud Farms.

Foie gras was invented when a French farmer’s wife nailed a gander’s feet to the kitchen floor in order to keep him in place, and then stuffed mashed feed down this throat several times a day by hand until his liver became engorged and fat.

To make the birds’ livers so fatty these days, the ducks and geese are force-fed enormous amounts of mash via an electric pump—the equivalent, to a human, of 23 pounds of food a day. Metal tubes are jammed down the birds’ throats for the feeding, often causing severe injuries that can make it impossible for the birds to drink without pain or sometimes even to drink at all. Some birds die when their stomachs rupture—on one farm, we found out that if a worker kills fewer than one in 10 birds in this way, he or she receives a bonus. Female ducks are killed immediately after birth: Their livers cannot be made into foie gras and therefore are considered “useless.”

Whole Foods supports this abuse by purchasing duck meat from Grimaud Farms, a company in California that also sells ducks to and serves as national distributor for Sonoma Foie Gras, one of only two farms in the country still producing foie gras. Whole Foods is aware of this connection between Grimaud and foie gras, but continues to do business with the company.

Please call or write Whole Foods officials and tell them, politely, to stop doing business with Grimaud:

John Mackey, Chair and CEO
Whole Foods Market, Inc.
601 N. Lamar, Ste. 300
Austin, TX 78703
Tel.: 512-477-4455
Fax: 512-477-1301

My letter (faxed moments ago):

VIA FACSIMILE
512-477-1301

21 April 2003

John Mackey
Chair and CEO
Whole Foods Market, Inc.
601 N. Lamar, Ste. 300
Austin, TX 78703

RE: Grimaud Farms/Sonoma Foie Gras

Dear Mr. Mackey:

I shop at Whole Foods Markets to the exclusion of all other markets, spending roughly $500 a month at your stores--even though I have to drive out of my way to do so--primarily because Whole Foods seems to go out of its way to reduce its contribution to cruelty toward animals.

It has come to my attention, however, that your stores carry Sonoma Foie Gras from Grimaud Farms, a product inextricably linked to horrible pain and suffering inflicted upon ducks and geese. Please extend the kindness you profess to show to other creatures to these poor birds, and discontinue carrying this product.

I do have many other shopping options as a Los Angeles customer, including Erewhon Natural Foods Market which has a fantastic selection as well. Should Whole Foods Markets fail to discontinue Sonoma Foie Gras, I will regrettably exercise this option.

Thank your for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,

(E P),
A concerned Whole Foods customer

that was a fast reply!

I've never actually been in a Whole Food stores (closest one is 2 hours away), but from reading the action alert, I don't believe they carry foie gras, they just buy from a company that produces foie gras. They purchase duck meat from Grimaud Farms, which happens to be a national distributor of Sonoma Foie Gras. PETA doesn't want them to associate with any companies that promote foie gras.

I happened to be writing and faxing two other letters, so I cranked that one out. I'm a fast writer in general. It's what I do.

That said, would've been nice if I'd read the PETA action alert first, 'cause now I'm going to come off sounding like I don't know what I'm talking about. At least he'll get the message, right?