Christopher Basten, chef de cuisine of the Oak Room Restaurant in Surrey, England, uses a prototype of the CrustaStun machine to kill a lobster before cooking. (Gill Allen / Times Newspapers Ltd.)
Posted on 11/20/2009 2:29:54 AM PST by Daffynition
A company in the United Kingdom is about to lift the lid on a device that zaps lobster with electricity to kill them, and the inventor said Wednesday his humane alternative to boiling is about to give the entire industry a jolt.
British entrepreneur Simon Buckhaven said the CrustaStun system, developed over the past decade by his company Studham Technologies Limited, near London, kills the lobster with an electric charge, so the crustacean feels no "pain or distress."
"I am entirely aware this product will be greeted at first with some skepticism among people in the lobster industry in Eastern Canada and northeastern United States," said Mr. Buckhaven, of what he called the world’s first crustacean stunner.
But he said the animal rights movement in Europe and the United States is gaining traction by protesting the traditional method of killing a lobster in boiling water, prior to serving it with melted lemon or garlic butter.
Seafood distributors and regional seafood retailers are among potential customers lining up to test out the device, said Mr. Buckhaven.
"A lot of people who love to eat lobster do not like preparing it at home because they have to cook it in boiling water. The restaurant industry is also more frequently hearing questions about how lobster will be killed from customers," said the entrepreneur.
Prototypes of the CrustaStun have made appearances in the U.K and in the United States over the years, but the company has just come up with a production model capable of plugging into North American and European power grids and is accepting orders for the devices. They cost about US$3,500 and sit in a kitchen like a microwave.
The inventor and his wife and business partner Charlotte were invited by animal rights activists to a big lobster dinner fundraiser last week, sponsored by the non-profit Child and Family Resource Centre in Tucson, Ariz.
"This is an important fundraiser for us but the animal rights groups were complaining about the lobster being boiled alive. The idea was the protesters would accept the stun device as a more humane way of killing lobster, compared to cooking them in boiling water," said Eric Schindler, president of the resource centre.
Mr. Schindler said in an interview he could not comment either way on boiling versus electrocution as the preferred method of killing lobster.
The animal rights group PETA bought two of the lobster devices and paid for Mr. Buckhaven and his wife to fly to the Arizona event last Saturday to demonstrate the technology.
Unfortunately, the courier service lost the two machines and the animal rights people had to look the other way as volunteers killed hundreds of lobster in boiling water for hungry supporters of the resource centre.
This was perhaps not an auspicious North American debut for the crustacean zapper, but Mr. Buckhaven said the interest of animal rights activists in the Arizona fundraiser should have people in the lobster industry in Eastern Canada paying attention.
"We developed our device out of concern about how lobster and other crustaceans are killed. Animal rights groups share this concern," said Mr. Buckhaven.
He said an industrial version of the CrustaStun system is currently under development by Charlottetown Metal Products in Prince Edward Island. These custom-built models can cost about $100,000 or more.
His company is looking for a North American manufacturer and distributor of the single-lobster device that goes into production in the United Kingdom next week.
The increasing interest of some U.S. celebrities like Mary Tyler Moore and Ellen Degeneres, and organizations like PETA, in lobster cooking techniques has not generated a huge amount of interest in Canada. A segment on the Ellen Show featuring her attempt to free a 65-year-old lobster is popular on YouTube.
Anything that potentially threatens Nova Scotia’s $400-million lobster industry is worthy of some consideration, said Celeste Sulliman, a spokeswoman for the province’s Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture.
"Low prices devastated the industry last year and demonstrated the fragile nature of the marketplace," she said.
The topic of lobster cooking has generated lots of interest in the United Kingdom, where some chefs weighing in on the topic suggested freezing the lobster in a plastic bag as a humane and economical alternative to an electric jolt from the CrustaStun.
Christopher Basten, chef de cuisine of the Oak Room Restaurant in Surrey, England, uses a prototype of the CrustaStun machine to kill a lobster before cooking. (Gill Allen / Times Newspapers Ltd.)
..."ELOO ELLO ELLO Mr Hussein,would you mine terribly holding on to my crustacean for a bit?" Tah
What?
$3,500 machine vs $10.00 pot bought 40 years ago.
Whoops! Pot wins!
Besides I'm just sadistic enough to enjoy lobsters screaming in agony as they meet their demise.
ROFLMBO!!! Lobsters are eating....I’ve never seen any of them protest.
What a great way to hide her insidious belt! Rock on!
Diving for California Spiney lobsters out of season we just ripped their tails off under water boiled them later.
Humane libtards.....
I give mine a Lethal Injection-—with Butter!
Their relatives watch from behind the glass.
Lobsters arent fit to eat anyway, Give me a Chesapeake Bay Blue Crab every time. I suppose they will want to execute them before cooking too.
Wasn’t aware they felt anything...its not like the scramble madly to get away.
Misplaced compassion...everytime.
“Wasn’t aware they felt anything...its not like the scramble madly to get away.”
Fold up their tail and stick their head in first until they quit kicking, about 1 second, or they will put 2 good flips of the tail of boiling water coming at you!
The wife is a Mainer so she gets the honors. But I do know she doesn’t have to beat them back down in the pot so its always over with quick.
This device is fine but certainly no more humane than boiling.
There will be some however who can’t see the difference between dead and dead.
Avure HPP
THE LOBSTER is placed in the chamber, along with water, a substance that the lobster knows well and feels very comfortable in.
THEN THE PRESSURE BEGINS, and the lobster's old pal "water" suddenly becomes its greatest enemy, as the water pressure grows to three times that found at the greatest depths of the ocean.
TO PARAPHRASE C-3P0, THE LOBSTER SHOULD BE QUITE WELL PROTECTED, should it survive the process, that is.
ACTUALLY, NO: the lobster not only dies, but conveniently for all but the lobster, the process has the added benefit of instantly separating its delicious raw flesh from its disgusting, hateful shell.
THUS ALLOWING, for the first time, a raw lobster to be shucked while still disgustingly whole.
The guys/gals on the line would "screw" the tail off....grab the animal and twist the tail segment off. The remaining body portion would twitch around for quite awhile.
It was said that this method ensured firmer tail meat; I guess I'd pucker up a bit too if my ass were being ripped away.
Well worth the extra effort.
In Bar Harbor, ME where you can eat your lobsters boiled, steamed, on a roll, baked and stuffed and even fried up Chinese style, two PETA protesters spent a day in August urging passers- by to just say “no” to the state’s favorite crustacean - with mixed results.
A restaurant across the street from the protestors may have benefited unexpectedly from the protest, as some tourists thought that the team from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, one dressed in a plush, red lobster costume, was actually promoting its lobster specials.
Didn’t they know that fresh lobsters are green?
I saw how the Koreans process the King Crab when I was on the Kenai in Alaska. Gruesome. I should say, violent and quick.
And yummmmmmmmm tasting afterwards!
In this photo released by the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, "George," a live 20 pound lobster rests on a plate at City Crab and Seafood in New York, Friday, Jan. 9, 2009. City Crab and Seafood has spared the lobster, which is expected to be released Saturday, Jan. 10, near Kennebunkport, Maine, in an area where lobster trapping is forbidden. PETA and the restaurant gauged George's age at about 140, using a rule of thumb based on the creature's weight. (AP Photo/P.E.T.A.)
[Meh. Like lobster don't migrate.]
F the lobsters and F the people telling me what and how to eat. They need to STFU and MTOB.
Tried it and did not like it.
They shouldda just beat the hell out of them, covered them in melted butter, rolled them in feathers, and sent them on their way. Ooops, butter is too expensive. Make it tar.
Same here, but I do like boiled shrimp, steamed shrimp, fried shrimp...shrimp just about any way you can fix ‘em.
Zot your Lobster.
At my Chinese Wedding Banquet, a never ending parade of Seafood: Lobster-(yuck), Shrimp-(tolerate), Abalone-(triple hurl) and Squid-(yikes), relief: Pork, Chicken and Steak.
I’m with you on the Abalone and Squid!
A trip to the west coast was the first introduction to squid for this Southern gal.
A friend said “let’s try the calamari”. I have an Italian aunt, but I wasn’t familiar with calamari. ha.
First and last time I ate squid.
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