Waitrose has promised to kill king prawns humanely and after animal rights campaigners said that the creatures feel pain.
The current method used to slaughter prawns has been deemed inhumane by campaigners who have said that many die of suffocation.
The supermarket has already banned the controversial practice of eyestalk ablation, in which the eyes of female prawns are removed to stimulate egg production.
All of Waitrose’s farmed prawns will now be electrically stunned.
Pressure has been building on retailers to change their practices surrounding the farming of prawns.
In 2022 the UK government provided legal recognition that decapod crustaceans including crabs, shrimps, and, prawns, can feel pain.
A spokesperson for Waitrose animal welfare is a ‘top priority’ for the company and they are committed to ‘rolling this out to our entire supply chain by the end of next year’, The Times reports.
The Shrimp Welfare Project claims that 440billion shrimps are farmed each year five times more than the total number of all farmed land animals combined.
Waitrose has already banned the controversial practice of eyestalk ablation, in which the eyes of female prawns are removed to stimulate egg production
Pressure has been building on retailers to change their practices surrounding the farming of prawns (stock image)
Tesco Along with other retailers Sainsbury’s, M&S, and Ocado, have also committed to the initiative
Waitrose added: ‘We’ve committed to rolling this out to our entire supply chain by the end of next year, and this applies to all our farmed shrimp and prawns.’
Other UK retailers, such as Tesco, Sainsbury’s, M&S, and Ocado, have also committed to the initiative.
The International Council for Animal Welfare (ICAW) has called on other major supermarkets including Aldi, and Asda to follow Waitrosie’s lead.
Chrys Liptrot, chief executive of ICAW, said the move from Waitrose is a ‘promising step towards implementing basic welfare standards for prawns’.
He added: ‘This new commitment from Waitrose is a promising step towards implementing basic welfare standards for prawn.
‘ICAW plans to hold all other UK retailers, as well as other major retailers across Europe, to this standard’.