CAMPAIGNERS SAY LOBSTERS AND CRABS SHOULD NOT BE BOILED ALIVE
Animal welfare campaigners including high profile celebrities have signed a letter to Environment Secretary Michael Gove calling for crustaceans to be classified as sentient organisms in a new Animal Welfare Bill.
At present it is common practice for chefs to place live lobsters and crabs into boiling water killing and cooking the animal at the same time. The wide spread practice avoids any food hygiene problems as the meat spoils quickly after they are killed. Practitioners have justified the apparently barbaric method as they believe that crustaceans cannot feel pain.
Campaigners have long believed that crustaceans are sentient organisms and point to recent scientific research. Maisie Tomlinson, from the campaign group Crustacean Compassion who organised the letter stated: “All the evidence out there at the moment points to the notion that they’re capable of experiencing pain.”
At present decapods fall outside of the legal definition of ‘animal’ in the Animal Welfare Act 2006 and as such there is currently know legal requirement to take their welfare into account during food processing.
Signatories to the letter include wildlife presenters Chris Packham and Michaela Strachan and representatives from the RSPCA and the British Veterinary Association.