Tesco, the leading UK food retailer, has approved an animal welfare policy on decapod crustaceans, namely crabs, prawns, lobsters, crayfish and scampi, which are currently excluded from regulatory measures on animal welfare. (1)
1) The sensitivity of decapod crustaceans
In the last few years, several hundred scientific studies have investigated decapod crustaceans to discover whether they are endowed with sentience, understood as the ability to experience sensations of pain, pleasure, hunger, thirst, warmth, joy, comfort and excitement.
An important study (Birch et al, 2021) (2) confirmed this hypothesis, based on the evaluation of 8 criteria:
i) possession of pain receptors (nociceptors);
ii) possession of integrative brain regions, capable of integrating information coming from different brain regions;
iii) connections between nociceptors and integrative regions of the brain;
iv) responses influenced by potential local anesthetics or analgesics;
v) motivational trade-offs that show a balance between threat and reward opportunities;
vi) flexible self-protective behaviors in response to injury and threat;
vii) associative learning that goes beyond habituation and sensitization;
(viii) behavior showing the animal’s appreciation for the administration of local anaesthetics or analgesics when injured.
2) The regulatory framework on the welfare of decapod crustaceans
Frequent intake of decapod crustaceans, hence their capture and breeding, grow faster than those of any other animal group.
The scientific community and the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) recognize that decapod crustaceans are sentient beings, meaning, capable of experiencing sensations including pain and suffering. (3)
However, measures are still missing to protect their well-being during the various stages of production, with rare exceptions.
2.1) The void of European legislation
To date, these animals are without any standard of protection by European legislation.
Regulation (EC) no. 1099/2009 of the Council establishes the rules to be followed during the slaughter of animals, with the aim of minimising their suffering. However, the definition of “animal” completely excludes aquatic animals other than fish, for which the protections provided are in any case ineffective, insufficient and inadequate. Therefore, rules such as those requiring preventive stunning before slaughter do not apply to crustaceans, and there is a complete lack of provisions explaining in detail which slaughter techniques to use to minimise the suffering of the animal.
In the same way, Council Regulation (EC) No 1/2005 lays down the rules to be followed during the transport of live animals. However, according to the definition given in the Regulation, only vertebrates qualify as “animals”. This effectively excludes decapod crustaceans from the scope and protections offered by the Regulation.
Decapod crustaceans are excluded from the scope of animal welfare rules in Europe. This means that they can be subjected to practices that are highly detrimental to their welfare, such as injury and mutilation during capture, confinement in confined spaces and out of water and at temperatures well below or above tolerable levels, and ultimately killed in ways that cause enormous suffering, such as being dismembered or boiled alive.
3) Tesco’s welfare policy on farmed decapod crustaceans
These bloody practices – stigmatised in the UK by the Animal Welfare (Sentience) Act 2022, will no longer be practiced on farmed decapod crustaceans marketed under the Tesco brand and the Tesco Welfare Approved (TWA) seal in the categories
- fresh
- frozen
- in box
- get ready.
Tesco– thanks to the support of the Aquatic Life Institute – is committed to ensuring the respect of the animal’s well-being in the various stages of production of these crustaceans: capture, holding/sorting on board, landing, storage, transport, slaughter and general handling of farmed decapod crustaceans.
4) Tesco’s commitments
The colossus of British large-scale retail trade is committed to
- not sell live decapod crustaceans in stores or online
- reduce the use of antibiotics in livestock farming
- by 2026, to stun electrically (instead of with thermal shock) 100% of farmed Penaeus vannamei (in Italy the species Litopenaeus vannamei is marketed under the name tropical prawn)
- have 100% of suppliers commit to complying with recognized agricultural assurance programs (certifiers), such as ASC, Global GAP or BAP 4
- by 2030, to obtain from 100% of suppliers a commitment to achieve a fish/fodder oil dependency ratio <1
- within the next three years, to avoid mutilation (removal of the eyestalk to increase reproduction) in the production of Penaeus Vannamei (by 2026) and Penaeus Monodon (by 2027) larvae.
Maria Ada Marzano
Footnotes
(1) Tesco Farmed Decapod Crustacean Welfare Policy. August 2024 https://www.tescoplc.com/sustainability/documents/policies/tesco-farmed-decapod-crustacean-welfare-policy
(2) Jonathan Birch, Charlotte Burn, Alexandra Schnell, Heather Browning and Andrew Crump. Review of the Evidence of Sentience in Cephalopod Molluscs and Decapod Crustaceans. London School of Economics and Political Science. November 2021 https://www.lse.ac.uk/business/consulting/reports/review-of-the-evidence-of-sentiences-in-cephalopod-molluscs-and-decapod-crustaceans
(3) The EFSA Journal (2005). “Opinion on the Aspects of the biology and welfare of animals used for experimental and other scientific purposes”. 292, 1-46 https://doi.org/10.2903/j.efsa.2005.292
(4) See Animal Welfare (Sentience) Act 2022 https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2022/22/enacted
Veterinary surgeon specialising in inspection of food of animal origin and PhD in animal nutrition and food safety.
