A successful achievement: The Dutch House of Representatives aims to end eyestalk ablation in shrimp
Thanks to a proposal put forward by the Party for the Animals and approved by the House of Representatives, the Dutch government will be pushing for a European import ban on shrimps whose eyes have been cut off without the use of an anaesthetic. The Minister of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality will also be calling on Dutch supermarkets to stop selling these mistreated shrimps.
Party for Animals MP Ines Kostić: “There is no doubt that shrimps feel pain. Cutting off their eyes causes serious suffering. The EU has already stopped importing fur from dogs, cats and seals, for example, due to the cruel treatment imposed on these animals. It is therefore only logical to abolish this animal-unfriendly product too.”
Shrimp breeders in South America and Southeast Asia use a barbaric method to encourage female shrimps to lay eggs as quickly as possible: they remove their eyestalks with red-hot tweezers. During this procedure, the animals clearly flinch with pain. They are subsequently disoriented and no longer able to swim straight, bumping into the walls of the basin in which they are kept.
Recently, Dutch supermarket Albert Heijn set a good example by taking these shrimps off their shelves. Other Dutch supermarkets are expected to follow suit in response to pressure exerted by the House of Representatives.