Dropping live lobsters and crabs into boiling water is set to be banned under sweeping animal welfare reforms unveiled on Monday.
The strategy outlines that “live boiling is not an acceptable killing method” and commits to issuing guidance on humane alternatives for killing crustaceans.
This prohibition follows legislation passed under the previous Conservative government in 2022, which recognised that crabs, lobsters, crayfish and octopuses are sentient creatures capable of experiencing pain.
The measures form part of broader changes that will also outlaw trail hunting and potentially eliminate cages for laying hens and farrowing crates for pigs.
The strategy outlines that ‘live boiling is not an acceptable killing method’
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Restaurant owners and seafood suppliers have hit back at the proposals, warning they will heap additional bureaucracy onto businesses already grappling with escalating wages and operational expenses.
James Chiavarini, owner of Il Portico and La Palombe in Kensington, said: “I think it’s the aim of this Government to remove us from our sense of place and purpose in the world and that’s what a lot of food tradition stands for.”
He dismissed the alternative of electrical stunning as impractical: “What are we supposed to do, shove them in a plug socket?
“Honestly, what restaurant is going to actually electrocute the lobsters before boiling them?”
Restaurant owners and seafood suppliers have hit back at the proposals
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Shellfish Association of Great Britain chief executive David Jarrad warned that restaurants unwilling to fork out around £3,500 for stunning devices would simply switch to importing frozen seafood from overseas.
John Loag of JPL Shellfish, a Scottish exporter of lobsters and crabs, said: “The Government just hasn’t got a clue.
“The shellfish business is already ridiculously tough. This is one of the last things you want to be thinking about.”
He added: “We’ve got rising costs, rising wages, everything is just getting harder and harder.
“This is certainly not an industry I’d be looking to get into if I hadn’t been in it for 30-odd years already.”
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National Farmers’ Union president Tom Bradshaw warned the welfare strategy risked pushing up food production costs, telling The Times: “Words are easy, but we know that the cost of living is something that is giving the Government sleepless nights at the moment.”
Crustacean Compassion, which campaigned for the ban, praised the announcement as a significant advancement for animal welfare.
The group’s chief executive, Ben Sturgeon, said: “We wholeheartedly welcome the Government’s intentions to ban the live boiling of conscious crustaceans and address other areas of welfare compromise.”
A YouGov survey conducted earlier this year found 65 per cent of adults opposed shellfish being placed in boiling water while still alive.
Victoria Atkins accused the Government of ‘favouring foreign farmers’
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Countryside Alliance chief Tim Bonner said the strategy appeared “driven more by the agenda of animal rights activists, than it does by actually improving animal welfare.”
Shadow Environment Secretary Victoria Atkins accused the Government of “favouring foreign farmers over British farmers by allowing substandard foreign imports to undercut our already-high welfare standards”.
Labour is facing a separate backlash from animal rights groups after declining to ban imports from overseas fur farms under its reforms.
The Government has also yet to act on a manifesto commitment to stop hunting trophies, including leopard pelts and mounted lion heads, from being brought into Britain.