Most British adults want the government to ban foie gras imports, according to YouGov poll commissioned by Animal Equality UK.
The survey of 2,137 found 83% of those who knew about the practice supported a ban of the import of foie gras outright, while 84% want the government to secure such a ban in as part of a future trade agreement
The findings come just days after Animal Equality handed in a petition containing over 315,000 signatures to Downing Street calling for the same measures to be taken.
“The message from the British public could not be clearer,” said Abigail Penny, executive director of Animal Equality UK. “Nearly nine in ten people who expressed a view confirmed they want the Government’s trade negotiators to secure a ban on foie gras imports, and around one-third of a million have signed our petition demanding exactly that.”
The production of foie gras has been banned in the UK for decades but imports have continued and campaigners are concerned the UK’s ability to stamp out the trade could be jeopardised without carve-out exemptions as part of a new Sanitary and Phytosanitary deal with the trading bloc.
Animal Equality UK is urging the government to ensure any trade deal with the EU contains an explicit prohibiton on foie gras imports.
Read more: Foie gras ban ‘endangered by EU reset negotiations’
As previously reported by The Grocer, Labour pledged to ban the import of any foods produced through “aggressive” force-feeding practices in as part of its election campaign in June 2024.
Although the level of net support was high across voters of all political parties in the 2024 general election, Reform voters recorded the lowest level of net support, while Labour Party voters displayed the highest.
Kate Werner, senior campaigns manager at PETA, said: “This torture in a tin is shamefully still being imported and sold into the UK two years later.
“The government must honour its commitment to animals and to the public, who overwhelmingly support this move, and bring forward a ban on foie gras imports immediately,” Werner added.
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