Force-feeding

Noodles or plug is a form of poultry production, are " stuffed" with the geese or ducks by the feed is administered by force-feeding them.

General

As fattening feed corn and water will be used.

The aim of the mast is to be achieved by an unnaturally large feed supply a massive enlargement and fatty degeneration of the liver, which then usually with foie gras (French: pâté de foie gras ) is processed: A device suitable for pies preparation liver is due to the high fat content remarkably light brown and weighs between one and two kilograms. Since the animals would thus not absorb large amounts of food itself, them tubes are inserted into the esophagus and the lining pumped directly into the stomach. The birds are conscious.

The animals are in an enclosure and are driven to the plug through a lock and held there in a narrow space. The actual rolling process takes a few seconds: geese, an about 30 cm long metal tube inserted down the throat, through the mast from a reservoir, the food is forced under pressure into the stomach. At too high a pressure, it comes to a rupture of the esophagus or the stomach, resulting in the death of the animal. During this phase of fattening die 2-4% of the animals. To reduce the risk of injury further, the metal tubes are today usually coated with soft plastic.

This type of mast is operated almost exclusively in France ( Périgord and Alsace ); before the plug was, however, also other countries spread in Germany, for example in Baden and the Palatinate. Other producing countries are Hungary, Bulgaria and Canada.

Cruelty to Animals

The plug is denounced by animal rights activists as massive cruelty to animals and is now banned in many countries such as Germany and Austria by the respective animal protection laws. In France, however, the foie gras was (French: foie gras ) in 2005 by the French National Assembly in addition to the Agriculture Act to " national and gastronomic heritage " explains and is therefore exempt from French animal protection laws.