Starbucks 'Trenta': How The New Size Compares To Your Stomach
Famous Death Row Last Meals
Whole Foods markets will no longer sell live lobsters and soft-shelled crabs on the grounds that it is an inhumane practice. The company spent months studying the conditions that lobsters experienced en route from the sea to the shopper. They tried to make the lobsters as comfortable as possible, but ultimately concluded that "they could not ensure the creatures [were] treated with respect and compassion."
Whole Foods pointed to a European study that said lobsters can feel pain like humans and animals, but the scientific community is divided over to what degree a lobster's fairly primitive nervous systems actually feel.
The lobster industry isn't concerned with this decision. 25% of all lobsters are sold live and they feel strongly that consumers who want live lobsters will still seek them out.
PETA and other animal rights groups are thrilled with the decision, but seem to have missed the fact that the market will still carry frozen raw and cooked lobster products. The lobsters are still being killed, but they won't be boiled by Whole Foods shoppers.
Jane Seymour's Modest And Modern Style
Broke Stars: 11 Celebrities Who Went Bankrupt
LOOK: Amazing Underwater Photos Of Dogs
Adele Five-Year Break? Singer Plans to Focus on Relationship, Write 'Happy Record'
Social Security Is Failing Even Faster Than We Thought
PHOTOS: How You Can Get The 'Miracle' Dress
Man Says Starbucks Discriminated Against Him Because He Has Half An Arm
Chris Brown, Grammys 2012: Embattled Singer Slams Critics
Janice Dickinson's Outrageous Style
Ford's clever Sports Illustrated Swimsuit ad features phantom model
Trace Adkins Reunites With College Crush, 30 Years Later
Photos Of Dead Lacrosse Player's Injured Body Shown To Jury
Van Gogh's Starry Night modded into beautiful interactive light and sound show (video)
'Hooker Teacher' Forced To Resign, Now Can't Find Work
PHOTOS: Model Falls At Dennis Basso Show
3 Economic Misconceptions That Need to Die
Lauren Scruggs Goes On Ski Vacation
WATCH AND LAUGH: Cops In 2-Hour Standoff With Empty Car
Woman's Dead Fiance Is Behind Her Disappearance: Cops
Stephen Wiltshire Draws Cities From Memory
We Meant There WERE Nukes In The Fire
6-16-2006 @3:54PM Bea said... I'm sorry....these lobsters are crawling around in cold mushy water most of the time....isn't that uncomfortable?? I had the unfortunate circumstance of having to disect one in biology and trust me, its brain is about the size of a chickpea. Stick it in the water headfirst to numb it and you're good to go. Is Whole Foods going to stop selling meat too?
Reply
6-16-2006 @3:55PM suburban misfit said... I don't think that animal rights groups and PETA (who I like in principle, not in practice) "seem to have missed the fact that the market will still carry frozen raw and cooked lobster products". I think they see this move as a step in the direction they'd like to see the world go.
I won't say "a step in the *right* direction", even though I'm a vegetarian, because what I think is right is different from what others think is right.
Reply
6-16-2006 @4:17PM mleavitt said... You both miss the point here, it's not to stop them from selling lobsters (or meat) all together; the point is to prevent the often mistreatment of a live animal in a store. Even if the animal is on it's way to your dinner plate it should not be mistreated before it gets there.
Reply
6-16-2006 @4:40PM B said... Can lobsters even feel pain? They're invertebrates, which means no spinal column, no nerves.
Reply
6-16-2006 @6:04PM realist said... the real reason is because Whole Foods does make that much money from selling live lobsters. It is actually a money looser for them. All this talk of respect and compassion is just p.r.
Reply
6-16-2006 @6:36PM al said... cold mushy water?
Reply
6-16-2006 @8:12PM Luis Antonio said... If you want live lobster I'm pretty sure you'd prerfer a healthy lobster. Just think about the trip these animals have to go through in order to be limited to a tank in some store with another dozen or so of it's kind; that must make a difference in it's overall taste. Now on the other hand, what I've heard from friends that catch and commercialize lobsters is that they've got freezers that'll make the lobster go from live (and healthy) to frozen in less than 10 seconds. That should seal in some freshness and well.. to be honest, I prefer frozen as opposed to an animal that's been wallowing around in it's feces for a couple of days (even if lobsters are in esence the roaches of the sea). But just don't think about that last part when you're doing your thermidor thing =).
Reply
6-16-2006 @8:23PM jmchez said... The CEO and Founder of Whole Foods has said more than once that his first priority are his stockholders. He is vegan and an ex-hippie but foremost a capitalist (he sells high priced meat products in spite of PETA protests and his own eating habits). His business thrives on the concept of organic, wholesome food. If telling the world that he will not sell live lobsters adds to that he will do it and has.
Reply
6-16-2006 @9:24PM Tim Rosencrans said... Next they will be against selling live yogurt!!! And the abuse of bees to make honey!
Reply
6-16-2006 @11:39PM Berkana said... What a joke. Lobsters have no brains; no brain, no pain.
Whole Foods won't sell live lobster, but it sells colloidal silver (a quack medicine which causes argyria, a form of heavy metal poisoning) in its health supplement aisle. What damnable hypocricy.
Reply
6-17-2006 @2:41AM Gabriella said... The choloidal silver is different than the old silver that used to be sold. This choloidal is not supposed to cause poisoning I thought.
Anyhoo- Interesting about these live lobster. I suppose they don't sell foie gras either then.
Reply
6-19-2006 @6:26PM Dave said... to Gabriella:
No, they don't sell foie gras. In fact they were sued for refusing to do business with companies distribute for foie gras producers.
Story: http://www.slashfood.com/2006/05/03/whole-foods-vs-foie-gras-behind-the-news/
The reason they still sell frozen lobsters is because they're killed immediately instead of being starved for weeks and packed on top of each other. I don't care either way....to me, they're bugs. But at least, it's not illogical to either PETA or WFM.
Of course, PETA won't stop until all the humans are dead and the unicorns run free. But that's another matter.
Reply
6-19-2006 @11:27PM barry said... Darwin thinks it could have gone anyway... I eat the losers!!!!
even if Fresh Fields doesn't sell them anymore...
please with butter...
B
Reply
6-21-2006 @4:03PM Sharon said... I am thrilled THRILLED!!! at Whole Foods testing results on this matter. For the longest time I have researched this lobster matter and have found that they were starved because the tanks did not have any means to clean waste matter. They do not eat because they have to be in familiar surroundings and in the correct temperature water, which is totally neglected by humans. I have seen them piled extremely tight in Shoprites'. I have even bought a lobster tail once in a Shoprite only to discover it was covered in algae. I wonder how long it sat in the tank (a month)? I know many people will still eat them but look into hypnotizing them before dropping them into the tank as they do feel pain--as any living thing feels...
Reply
6-21-2006 @4:09PM Gabriella said... Thanks for that link Dave! Appreciate you taking the time to do that.
Reply