A Campaigning animal-welfare group is urging diners in Petersfield to boycott restaurants serving foie gras. The move came after Viva! claimed that two restaurants in the town had what Viva described as "torture in a tin" on their menus. And now Viva! group members have written to The Kitchen, in The Square, and JSW, in Dragon Street, urging them to drop foie gras from their menus immediately. "Foie gras is produced by force-feeding ducks or geese large amounts of food so that their livers swell to up to 10 times the normal size," said Viva! campaigns manager Justin Kerswell. "A pipe is shoved down the bird's oesophagus and food is forced into the stomach. The process is repeated two or three times daily for two to three weeks until the birds develop fatty liver disease. The birds are then slaughtered." He added that 90 per cent of birds used in foie gras production were ducks. He said foie gras was not produced in Britain, as the government had made it clear that its production would contravene existing animal- welfare regulations, but it was legal to import it. Its production had also been outlawed in Poland, Denmark, Germany, Norway and Israel. "Foie gras is torture in a tin", said Mr Kerswell. "There is nothing humane about mechanically inducing disease in a bird by forcing a pipe down its throat and making it consume such an abnormal quantity of food that its liver expands many times its normal size. "This is barbarism disguised as a delicacy. "We are asking local people to reject it and make Petersfield – and all of Hampshire – a foie gras-free zone. Of course, eating any animal causes suffering – and the best way of stopping cruelty is to go vegetarian." Jake Watkins, the chef proprietor of JSW preferred not to comment, but said foie gras was not currently on his menu. Jack Sykes, the owner and head chef at The Kitchen, told The Herald: "We have received the letter from Viva! and it is certainly a consideration as we change our menu every six weeks. "We are planning to change it in two weeks' time and foie gras will not be on the new menu."