Aldi, Asda and Iceland slammed for not rallying towards ‘boiling animals alive’
Campaigners at Crustacean Compassion have slammed three of the UK’s biggest supermarkets over animal welfare issues and claim they’ve taken ‘no steps’ to solve problems
A trio of the UK’s biggest supermarkets have been slammed for not stamping out animal cruelty.
For many, a walk down the fresh fish aisle is something done without batting an eyelid during a weekly shop. But for the campaigners at Crustacean Compassion, the products on the shelves are more than just sustenance.
Iceland, Aldi and Asda have all been slammed by the group for allegedly failing to act on welfare concerns, specifically relating to how crustaceans such as lobster and crabs are treated by suppliers.
They claim the supermarkets – and Amazon – are yet to stand against the practice of “boiling animals alive, tearing them apart, and freezing them while conscious”.
The supermarkets have been classed as “appearing to have taken few or no steps towards addressing decapod crustacean welfare in their supply chains”.
A report from the group, which can be seen here in full, states commitments to avoid selling live crustaceans direct to consumers saw a significant jump in 2024, with the number of companies publishing policies rising from eight (27%) in 2023 to 17 (57%).
In the 2023 report, only four of the companies making this commitment were major retailers. At the time of writing, all the large UK supermarkets – with the exception of ASDA and ALDI – had published this policy in the public domain. In addition, eight processors had made the same pledge.
Ben Sturgeon, CEO of Crustacean Compassion, said: “Consumers expect humane treatment of all animals in the food chain. Companies refusing to improve risk losing public trust and, ultimately, their place in shopping baskets. According to our recent survey, 87.1% of respondents believe that supermarkets should be responsible for upholding the highest animal welfare standards for all sentient animals.
“It’s disappointing to see that some food producers and supermarkets are making no, or very little progress when others are clearly demonstrating that improvement is possible. Particularly in relation to poor practices in capture and storage, as well as the mutilation of live animals.
“I suspect that most people think these practices are already banned and on hearing this report today, people would expect all supermarkets and food producers to phase them out as quickly as possible.”
The report also found that Marks & Spencer and Young’s Seafood lead the positive changes with strong commitments to humane stunning and slaughter, while more than two-thirds of companies having improved their scores since 2023 including Waitrose, Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Ocado, Morrisons, Co-op, Lidl, and processors The Blue Sea Food Company and Whitby Seafoods.
The Daily Star has reached out to Iceland, Aldi and Asda for a comment.
For the latest breaking news and stories from across the globe from the Daily Star, sign up for our newsletters.
