London – From foie gras produced without making birds suffer to “sustainable” fish, British retailers and restaurants are fast embracing politically correct food, helped by celebrity-fuelled pressure.

Faux (false) gras is the ethical answer to the foodstuff which has been the bane of campaigners for decades for the way it's produced: force-feeding ducks or geese to create engorged livers that yield the creamy pate.

Foie gras off the shelves
Waitrose, House of Fraser and Tesco are among a growing number of major British retailers who are now refusing to stock real foie gras after protest campaigns.

Even Selfridges, one of the main attractions for discerning shoppers on London's Oxford Street, decided in November to take foie gras off its shelves after a protest fronted by former James Bond actor Roger Moore.

"It's torture in a tin," said Moore, who appeared on pre-Christmas posters urging Selfridges to halt its sale, stating: "Force-feeding birds is not Yule, it's cruel."

The foie gras ban has even gained the royal seal of approval after Prince Charles, the heir to the throne, ordered it off menus for royal functions.

Popular, "ethical" alternative
WWaitrose developed the faux gras version –- produced without force-feeding the birds – and calls it an "ethical alternative to traditional foie gras".

A darker colour than the real thing, faux gras is made from about 50 percent liver from free-range poultry blended with goose or duck fat.

Two years after its launch, Waitrose customers appear to be increasingly happy to substitute faux gras for the real thing at Christmas and New Year.

"Faux gras is still one of our most popular festive foods," said a Waitrose spokeswoman, who added that sales of the new product surged by almost 60 percent in 2009.

Such is the popularity of the new, more "ethical" version of the product that lawmakers have backed a motion calling for restaurants to adopt the new version and ditch the real foie gras.

"It is only a matter of time before foie gras is relegated to the history books where it belongs," said Sam Glover of lobby group PETA (The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals).

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