New Call For Ban On Boiling Lobsters Alive

Vets are calling for new rules on how lobsters are cooked urging chefs to use more humane methods.

Many restaurants boil lobsters alive, but now the British Veterinary Association is joining calls from animal rights campaigners to make it compulsory to stun the animals before killing and cooking them, the Mail Online reports.

Research has shown that shellfish are sentient, however, it's long been debated whether lobsters do actually feel pain.

Bans on boiling lobsters alive are already in place in Switzerland, Norway, Austria and New Zealand and now animal-lovers are asking the UK to follow suit.

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Some chefs are already using electronic stunning devices, with claims that actually makes the lobster meat taste better.

Speaking to the Mail Online, celebrity chef Giorgio Locatelli, who runs the Michelin-starred Locand Locatelli, said: "In my opinion, not only is it more humane it also improves the quality of the meat. Many years ago my wife saw a chef put a live lobster in a pot in our kitchen and nearly divorced me. Since then we have used a stunning machine."

Maisie Tomlinson of Crustacean Compassion told the Mail: "We call ourselves a nation of animal lovers but crabs and lobsters are Britain's forgotten animals. What happens to them at slaughter is cruel and unacceptable. Unless these animals have been electronically stunned, it can take up to three minutes for a crab to die in boiling water and even longer for a lobster."

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Back in 2018 campaigners and celebrities wrote to the then Environmental Secretary Michael Gove to bring in protection to stop lobsters and crabs from being cooked alive.

The letter, which was organised by Crustacean Compassion, read in part: "There is no economic or culinary reason why decapods cannot be humanely dispatched, yet killing is sometimes preceded by breaking off the legs, head or tail, and is often accomplished by boiling alive."

In a statement to the BBC at the time, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, said the UK had plans to be 'a world leader in the care and protection of animals as we leave the EU'.

Topics: Food, UK News, Animals

Claire Reid

Claire is a journalist at LADbible who, after dossing around for a few years, went to Liverpool John Moores University. She graduated with a degree in Journalism and a whole load of debt. When not writing words in exchange for money she is usually at home watching serial killer documentaries surrounded by cats. You can contact Claire at [email protected]

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