Fortnum & Mason should stop selling foie gras, says Zac Goldsmith The technique produces liver fat, which is then sold for eating. Its production is banned in the UK but not its sale. In his letter Mr Goldsmith said the process subjects the geese to "intense pain." The geese are confined in small unsanitary pens and force-fed corn through a metal pipe. This causes their livers to swell to ten times their natural size and subjects them to intense pain before they are killed," Mr Goldsmith wrote in his letter to Mr Venters. "As you will be aware, traditional "la gavage" foie gras production is banned in the UK and a number of other leading stores such as Selfridges and Harey Nichols have withdrawn it from sale. I urge you to follow their example and recognise public opposition to foie gras production by removing it from Fortnum & Mason's shelves. After a high-profile campaign by Sir Roger Moore and animal-welfare group Peta last year, the London department store said that it wouldn't "be bullied" into removing foie gras from its shelves. Mr Venters in October said it would not yield to a group that represented less than 1 per cent of the British population. He said that Fortnum & Mason had "many thousands of customers" who wanted to buy "what is essentially a very traditional product." Foie gras sales at Fortnum & Mason account for 2 per cent of the UK total. Mr Venters said the video claiming to show geese being maltreated at a farm that supplies Fortnum & Mason's main producer was false. "It is not taken at the farms that supply Fortnum & Mason," said Mr Venters. Referring to Mr Goldsmith's letter a spokesman for Fortnum & Mason said: "Fortnum & Mason is a traditional retailer who over the centuries has established a strong reputation for supplying certain traditional foods, amongst which is foie gras. As a retailer we are here to provide our customers with the products they ask for, including foie gras and we respect their right to buy and enjoy the foods they like. However we uphold strict guidelines relating to the making of foie gras and work to the best of our abilities to ensure that these gold standard production requirements are upheld at all times by the suppliers we use.