Waitrose has promised to give its king prawns a humane death, after campaigners said the crustaceans feel pain.

The “upmarket” supermarket said it will stop selling suffocated farmed prawns. When slaughtered, prawns are supposed to die from thermal shock in a mixture of ice and water, but campaigners say prawns can have a prolonged death from asphyxiation.

Legislation passed in the UK gives legal recognition that decapod crustaceans, including crabs, lobster, prawns and shrimp, are sentient animals with the capacity to experience pain, distress and harm.

Rival retailers have been urged to follow suit and publicly commit to banning farming techniques that can include cutting off the eyes of female prawns, a practice known as ablation, to try to accelerate egg productivity.

Thermal shock and electric stunning

The International Council for Animal Welfare (ICAW) said it wants all retailers to commit to humane slaughter and end ablation, the Guardian reported. To date, according to ICAW, several supermarkets have ended the practice, or committed to end it, and are implementing electric stunning for farmed prawns. It has urged other supermarkets to follow suit.

Justine Audemard, head of negotiations at ICAW, said: “Electric stunning has been recognised as the most humane method and will significantly reduce the suffering of prawns during slaughter. It’s easy to implement for retailers.

“There is growing recognition of the sentience of these animals, by the UK government and other governments in Europe. We know that when people are educated about what they go through, they are willing to pay a little more for a product that is respectful of animal welfare.”

In a statement, Waitrose said: “Animal welfare is a top priority for Waitrose, and since 2023 we’ve been working with our suppliers to push our industry-leading standards even higher by trialling electrical prawn stunning. 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.”