Boiling lobsters alive to be banned under new UK bill

nypost.com ^ | July 7, 2021 | Natalie O'Neill

[lowbridge]

Boiling lobsters alive would be banned in the United Kingdom under new legislation that protects the “welfare rights” of crustaceans and mollusks, according to a report Wednesday.

Parliament is considering updating its Animal Welfare Bill — which defends against the inhumane treatment of creatures with backbones — to include invertebrates such as lobsters, crabs, octopuses and squid, according to the Evening Standard.

The bill, which is making its way through the legislature’s House of Lords, would require fishermen and chefs to stun or chill the sea creatures before boiling them, which is thought to be a more humane method of cooking.

[stars & stripes forever]

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[dfwgator]

Yeah, bash me in the head and throw me in boiling water. Always the way I wanted to go.

"Les poissons, les poissons... How I love les poissons..."

[CodeToad]

Drill a baby in the back of the head and kill it but don’t go boiling a lobster.

[Savonarola]

Lobsters will have more rights than unborn babies. Is this just insane?

[dfwgator]

"One time, I decided to make my own crawdads. I put em in the pot … but without the water, see? And it was just like making popcorn."

[lepton]

Their normal fate is to be eaten alive. Is shock-boiling worse?

[escapefromboston]

Wonder if these animal cruelty laws apply to ethnic minorities and how they prepare their food or just food native Brits would enjoy.

[rdl6989]

Food poisoning cases will skyrocket.

[paulcissa]

How does this apply to Halal slaughterhouses in England? I thought the practice of disemboweling the sheep while alive was “Holy” and respected as a religious thing. Maybe the Muslims just get another pass on this one because, well - it’s England? Amazing how quickly “the stupid” is being normalized by liberals.

[mmichaels1970]

And crabs.

I know you're just joking, but having butchered thousands of crabs in my life I figured I'd comment anyway. Always looking for any little excuse to reminisce on my crab-fishing days. So apologies in advance.

Boiling crabs alive would be tough due to their "wingspan". They'd be difficult to fit in the pot.

When we pulled them in, we had a large belly-height blade in front of us. You'd place their abdomen against the blade and then give them a "push" with your stomach while ripping and twisting down on both sets of legs. Then you had spinning brushes where you'd clean the gills off of the knuckles of the legs. Down the chute they'd then go where they were packed in cube-like cages and run through a boiling cooker, a rinse tank, and then several brine tanks where they were frozen. In the box they'd then go, where a conveyor would lower them into the freezer hold where they'd stay before being offloaded and ultimately delivered to the retailer.

The lowliest of jobs was using a butter-knife to chip barnacles of their legs to improve their appearance.

Those guys on "Deadliest Catch" have it easy. They just yank-em and tank-em. We had to catch them, butcher them, clean them, cook them, freeze them, pack them all during 20-30' swells.

[noexcuses]

I don’t understand the benefit of keeping them alive as they boil

If you mean before you boil, the reason is they have a nasty bacteria in them which multiplies at a rapid pace if the lobster is allowed to die prior to cooking. Also placing them in the boiling water while still alive assures their freshness same as with clams and crabs which you also want to keep alive before cooking.

[lepton]

I don’t understand the benefit of keeping them alive as they boil.

---

They don’t stay alive as they boil. They are dropped into boiling water, which kills them rather quickly.

As for keeping them alive until boiled, they taste better, and have been known to taste better at least as far back as the Romans - not to mention that while alive, their immune system keeps a kind of bacteria that grows on them in check, and that bacteria can cause food poisoning within an hour or so.

[gundog]

Not necessary for Dungeness Crabs. They’ll put up a clatter at first, but with a big enough pot , it’s doable. I can see where a snow or king crab might be a problem, though.

[gundog]

I’d give the boiling water a chance, first.

[LibWhacker]

Me too, bruder! And I’d eat it everyday if it weren’t for two factors: the cost and the mercury. Oh, and the usual PITA cooking requirements. Much easier to make a burger.

[OldGoatCPO]

Blue crabs are so much easier. Wife puts an empty pot on a stove, heats the pot until bottom is red hot and drops the crabs in. You hear this ticking sound inside the pot until she dumps two cups of water into the pot and flash steams the little buggers. She smiled at me while she was doing it, I took that as a warning about a similar fate awaiting me should I stray.😂😂😂

[mmichaels1970]

Not necessary for Dungeness Crabs

Good point. I hadn't considered them. We went for Opilio, Verdi, and King up in Alaska.

[ConservativeMind]

Thank you, both.

If you chopped their head off or electrocuted them just as you through them into already boiling water, I would imagine the bacteria would not be a problem, correct?

[ScottfromNJ]

“They don’t stay alive as they boil. They are dropped into boiling water, which kills them rather quickly.”

I hear dropping them in the water back first kills them instantly. Plus, their brains are so small they’re likely already dead before they can process the pain. Another completely useless law that will do more harm than good when someone deals with the food poisoning bacteria causes as you mentioned.

[Red Badger]

I’ve never had lice, aka ‘crabs’, but I have been told that Dog Flea Shampoo will get rid of them safely in one shot.................