Deeside, Wales-headquartered grocery store chain Iceland has announced that it is eliminating eyestalk ablation from the prawn supply chain of its own-label prawn products by the end of 2027.
The firm also said it will transition to the use of electric stunning as a harvesting method for its own-label products during the same time frame.
The U.K. government established a sentience standard for prawns and other decapod crustaceans in 2021 after studies showed that the animals were capable of feeling pain and distress. Both eyestalk ablation and ice-slurry slaughter are practices that may violate that sentience standard.
Eyestalk ablation involves removing one or two of the eyes of a female shrimp, sometimes by crushing them, which prompts her to lay her eggs faster than she might have otherwise.
Ice-slurry slaughter is a harvesting method that immobilizes shrimp in freezing water, slowly suffocating them in a process that can sometimes take up to three hours.
Since the standard was established in 2021, a number of retailers have transitioned away from the controversial practices in response to high profile campaigns from animal welfare groups, including the International Council for Animal Welfare (ICAW) and Mercy for Animals.
In February, ICAW representative Justine Audemard said these common farming practices mean that shrimp are “still treated as if they are vegetables, with no regard [paid] to their needs.”
Iceland made the announcement on 14 July, saying that after extensive work on the part of the grocer’s technical team, a transition plan was in place that would protect quality and affordability while improving animal welfare standards.
“That means eliminating eyestalk ablation and integrating electrical stunning in a way that is practical, science-led, and supports long-term supplier partnerships while continuing to provide quality, affordable food for families across the country,” Iceland Director of Product, Packaging, and Sustainability Stuart Lendrum said.
Lendrum added that he expected ablation to be mostly eliminated in 2026 and that electrical stunning would be adopted for Iceland-label products by the end of 2027.
As recently as mid-June, protestors were demonstrating outside of Iceland’s location in Greenwich, England, demanding higher animal welfare standards from the retailer.
At the time, Iceland Chairman Richard Walker said, on LinkedIn, that his company would be one of the first U.K. supermarkets to start selling Aquaculture Stewardship Council-certified prawns, which “meet strict standards for environmental and social responsibility.”
Now, in raising prawn welfare standards, Iceland joins other U.K.-based grocery chains, including Tesco, Sainsbury’s Morrisons, Co-Op, Waitrose, and M&S.
