PETA US worked with Burger King on animal welfare for eight years, so when we heard that their UK stores were going to be selling foie gras, we immediately contacted BK headquarters in the US to ask them to ensure that this did not go forward. The plan, according to numerous newspapers, was to sell an £85 burger which would be topped with foie gras. As you probably know by now, foie gras is the cruelly obtained enlarged, diseased liver of geese and ducks, force-fed to produce a ‘delicacy’. Everyone from Prince Charles to the Duchess of Hamilton and every supermarket in the UK has banned or spoken out against foie gras, so it would have been a curious decision for Burger King to sell the stuff.
Anyway, we heard back almost immediately from Burger King in the UK, who sent us this statement:
“Burger King’s most expensive burger is still in the development stages and no ingredients were 100% confirmed when the story went out to press. However, we can confirm that foie gras will not be used as part of the burger.”
Whether they abandoned plans after hearing from us or never intended to use foie gras in the first place, this is one more example of a company that is not willing to be associated with the horrible abuse that foie gras entails, and we hope Selfridges will take note. Burger King is clearly a more ethical company than Selfridges.
