Whole Foods Market to Pull Live Lobster Tanks

by Heather McLaughlin

The organic and natural food supermarket, Whole Foods, has just announced that they are going to stop selling Live Lobsters and crabs immediately, due to humanity concerns.

“Although we discovered significant improvements are possible from capture up to in-store tank conditions, we are not yet sufficiently satisfied that the process of selling live lobsters is in line with our commitment to humane treatment and quality of life for animals,” said Margaret Wittenberg, vice president of quality standards for Whole Foods Market. “At this time, we believe it is too difficult to maintain consistent conditions throughout the entire supply chain to ensure the health and well-being of lobsters outside their natural environment for such a long period of time. Many lobsters are held in storage facilities for several months.”

They will continue to sell frozen and raw seafood products that meet specific standards for humane treatment of the crustaceans.

Lobsters and crabs are still animals, like dogs or cats, and if someone threw a cat into a pot of boiling water, you can bet that the Animal Protective League would be on them like white on rice.

I think that this is a good move, because to be honest, Live lobster tanks creep me out. There would be nothing worse than being held in a small tank with 50 other lobsters and waiting for someone to “choose” them for dinner.

Resource: Whole Foods Market