UK campaign group Crustacean Compassion has called on supermarkets to update their welfare policies and commit to not selling live decapods to the public.

According to a benchmarking report, which Crustacean Compassion said had “looked at the decapod welfare policies of major supermarkets”, M&S, Co-op, Morrisons and Waitrose were the retailers who had made “firm commitments” to not sell live decapods like crab and lobster to the public.

This has prompted Custacean Compassion to write to the CEOs of Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Aldi, Lidl, Asda and Ocado to update their welfare policies, while urging consumers to contact the retailers on social media as part of its campaign.

The group said that it had run a poll with the public to ask whether animal welfare policies would make a brand or retailer appear more ethical, finding that over 80% believed they “should be able to trust their supermarket to have high welfare standards in place for all sentient animals”.

Crustacean Compassion also said that as a result of the poll, it found over 50% of respondents didn’t believe live sales should continue versus 33% who disagreed.

Consumers unaware of humane slaughter practices

According to the group, decapods sold to the public and untrained handlers may experience “extreme suffering” as these groups are not trained in humane slaughter.

Crustacean Compassion went on to say on its website: “There is legislation in place under the Welfare of Animals at the Time of Killing Regulations 2015, which states that ‘No person may engage in the restraint, stunning or killing of an animal unless that person has the knowledge and skill necessary to perform those operations humanely and efficiently’ and decapods are protected under this law, but the live sales continue.”