Scientists create foie gras without cruel force-feeding that tastes the same, they say

Foie gras – a delicious delicacy to some, blatant animal cruelty to others – requires ducks and geese to be force-fed high-calorie food through a tube into their stomachs.

This excruciating process causes the liver to swell significantly and its fat content to rise. In many countries, this practice is banned.

Now, a German-Danish research team has presented a method to produce a foie-gras-like pâté without the painful force-feeding.

“It has always been a goal to reproduce the taste and texture of real foie gras while keeping animal welfare in mind,” explains team leader Thomas Vilgis, from the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research in Mainz, Germany.

The physicist, who is also an amateur chef, wanted his team to not only imitate the taste of duck and goose foie gras but also to replicate its consistency and mouthfeel when eaten.

This has been achieved after five years of research, Vilgis says. “The foie gras we produce is indistinguishable from the conventional product.”