AN Oxfordshire restaurant boss has pledged never to serve foie gras.

Pete Borg-Neal, owner of Oakman Inns, which runs the Blue Boar in Witney and the Old Post Office in Wallingford, made the promise to PETA — People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

He said: “I have come to the conclusion that it is too difficult to monitor farming practices with respect to foie gras and, consequently, the risk of cruelty is too high to be acceptable to me.

“I therefore can confirm that we will not be putting foie gras on our menus nor will we be using it as an ingredient in any other dishes.”

To produce foie gras, which means “fatty liver” in French, ducks and geese are force-fed until their livers swell to up to 10 times their normal size. Foie gras production is illegal in the UK, but not its sale.