Posted on 06/16/2006 5:36:29 AM PDT by cbkaty
AUSTIN, Texas — 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.
Whole Foods Market Inc., http://www.wholefoods.com
Massachusetts Lobstermen's Association, http://www.lobstermen.com
Lobster Institute, http://www.lobsterinstitute.org
So much for John Mackey being a Libertarian!
I have never shopped at Whole Foods.. I have walked through the store....that's when I spotted the pierced employees...
Any company with the name Progressive....is off-limits for this CONSERVATIVE-TO-THE-CORE NATIVE TEXICAN...
I won't even live in a neighborhood with that kind of riff-raff....
This is interesting. The lobster was not given lethal injection before becoming a frozen raw lobster, and I've got a good idea how the frozen cooked lobster got that way.
Its OK if you close your eyes I guess.
This is why I suggest they close the meat market too....Were the hogs, turkeys, chickens, and cattle treated with respect?
Then they can shut down the the fresh vegetable department due to the silent screams of the carrots and especially the romaine lettuce....for goodness sakes...save the vegies too....
Then the canned goods and baby food....
Then the make-up section....
They can become purveyors osf brooms & buggy whips....Yea...that's it!
Let me tell you how chapin cooks sea crickets.
1. go to beach and gather sea weed and a quart of salt water.
2.Purchase live, tail snapping lobsters,steamers and little necks at local seafood market.
3. Place seaweed and water in bottom of large pot, then the clams, and the lobsters on top.
4. Light the fire, cover the pot and slowly steam them until the shells are bright red.
5. Thank God for the meal he provided and enjoy!
Except for my Army time,I've always lived within a 10 mile radius of where I was born.Today,much of that area is located in Barney Frank's district.I don't know when,if ever,this area voted for decent,respectable candidates but it certainly hasn't for the last 20 years or more.
Although I'm a guy to whom "home" means a lot,I'm growing tired of this state and region.I've grown tired of the weather,the taxes,the amoral politicians,the phoney millionaire "progressives" and other things as well.
Soon,I'll be leaving....probably for Virginia or North Carolina.I'd head to Florida or Georgia,but there's *no* way that I could stand heat and humidity for 9 months a year.
Plenty of room here in Texas...Hot and dry in Fredericksburg....the hill country. Try it!
Although I have a good amount of respect for (most) Texans,I couldn't do it.
Too hot,too many tornadoes and too far from my beloved Atlantic...and my home.I've always been,and always will be,an East Coast kinda guy.
The upscale food shopper that buys live lobsters and crabs are probably the shoppers that tend to buy the high end high mark up items. I hope that this market does not have to raise prices on staples like milk, eggs and baby food to make up for lost profit.
Hey Alex Jones, be a real man and protest THIS! I mean it's happening in your neck of the woods!
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