Whole Foods Bans Sale of Live Lobsters

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Whole Foods Bans Sale of Live Lobsters

By LIZ AUSTIN, Associated Press Writer

 

Friday, June 16, 2006

 

 

 

 

 

(06-16) 04:57 PDT Austin, Texas (AP) --

 

 

Customers craving fresh crustaceans will have to look beyond Whole Foods Market

Inc. after the natural-foods grocery chain decided Thursday to stop selling live

lobsters and crabs on the grounds that it's inhumane.

 

 

The Austin-based grocer spent seven months studying the sale of live lobsters

from ship to supermarket aisle, trying to determine whether the creatures suffer

along the way.

 

 

In some stores, they experimented with " lobster condos, " filling tanks with

stacks of large pipes the critters can crawl inside. And they moved the tanks

behind seafood counters and away from children's tapping fingers.

 

 

Ultimately, Whole Foods management decided to immediately stop selling live

lobsters and soft-shell crabs, saying they could not ensure the creatures are

treated with respect and compassion.

 

 

" We place as much emphasis on the importance of humane treatment and quality of

life for all animals as we do on the expectations for quality and flavor, " John

Mackey, Whole Foods' co-founder and chief executive, said in a statement.

 

 

Animal rights activities were thrilled with the decision, not just because of

the way lobsters are harvested, shipped and stored but because of the fate that

awaits many of them — being dropped alive into a pot of boiling water.

 

 

" The ways that lobsters are treated would warrant felony cruelty to animals

charges if they were dogs or cats, " said Bruce Friedrich, a spokesman for People

for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

 

 

In making its decision, Whole Foods pointed to a November report from the

European Food Safety Authority Animal Health and Welfare panel that it said

concluded all decapod crustaceans, including lobsters and crabs, appear to have

some degree of awareness, feel pain and can learn.

 

 

But other scientists and seafood industry officials said Thursday that lobsters

have such primitive insect-like nervous systems they don't even have brains and

can't experience pain the way animals and humans do.

 

 

For example, lobsters can shed a claw that's stuck between two rocks and move on

like nothing happened, said Diane Cowan, a marine biologist who studies lobster

behavior in Maine.

 

 

" They certainly have a nervous system and respond to external stimuli, but

whether you can call it pain I don't know, " Cowan said.

 

 

About 183 million pounds of lobster are caught each year in the United States

and Canada, and about 25 percent of that is sold live, according to the Lobster

Institute at the University of Maine.

 

 

" People who want lobster will have lobster, " said Bill Adler, executive director

of the Massachusetts Lobstermen's Association. " If this particular chain does

not want to serve it, people will go elsewhere. "

 

 

From now on, Whole Foods will only sell frozen raw and cooked lobster products

at its more than 180 stores in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom,

said Margaret Wittenberg, vice president of quality standards. And the chain

will only deal with suppliers meeting their standards for humane treatment,

handling and processing.

 

 

Whole Foods leaders will reconsider the decision if they see evidence that it's

possible to ensure lobsters and crabs are treated humanely throughout the supply

chain, she said.

 

 

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