Lobsters, lobsters, crabs. If they are alive they must stay in the water, otherwise it is a crime. And if they are then thrown alive into the pot, all is well. Insolĭta lex , sed lex. The ABCs for fishmongers, supermarkets and restaurateurs.
Live crustaceans, ice no
European food legislation-often mocked for regulating items deemed futile, such as the size and length of bananas (1)-provides nothing about the storage of live shellfish.
Not even in Italy, where the consumption of lobsters, including local ones, is relatively widespread, is there any regulation on how the animals in question should be preserved, if kept alive, in the period between capture and sale or serving in restaurants.
The Guidelines on the hygiene of fishery products, defined in 2015 at the State-Regions Conference, (2) in turn do not consider this topic.
In the
vacuum legis
, it is case law that defines which ways of preserving live crustaceans should be considered animal mistreatment, and which should not. Civil society’s sensitivity to animal suffering has evolved over the past few years, and so have the orientations of the judiciary. Albeit, with unusual developments.
Preliminary Hearing Judge Valentina Forleo, in December 2017, denied dismissal of the case against the attorney in charge of a Rome supermarket. Accepting the argument of the NGO Animalisti Italiani, which had filed the complaint, that lobsters kept on ice with their claws tied are subjected to unacceptable suffering. Animal mistreatment. (3)
The Supreme Court of Cassation, for that matter, in June 2017, had upheld the conviction of a restaurateur in Campi Bisenzio (FI) for keeping live lobsters and lobsters with their claws tied in a cold storage room while waiting to cook them. Conditions incompatible with their nature as ‘sentient beings capable of feeling pain‘. (4) Maltreatment of animals.
Live crustaceans, fire yes
Ironically, in the same sentence convicting the Tuscan restaurateur for storing live shellfish in the refrigerator, it is instead stated that ‘a particular mode of cooking may be considered lawful precisely by virtue of the recognition of common usage.’
The ‘
particular mode of cooking
‘ is just a periphrasis to indicate that shellfish can be thrown alive into a pot, pan or grill without being guilty of the crime of animal abuse. After all, supreme judges write judgments, not prescriptions, and in the name of common usage repudiate any previous notes on ‘sentient beings capable of feeling pain.’
In Switzerland at least, the Federal Council has introduced a consistent rule. As of March 1, 2018, live shellfish-after being kept in water, not on ice-must also be electrically stunned, (5) that is, undergo ‘mechanical destruction of the brain,’ before being cooked.
Live crustaceans, how to preserve them?
Shellfish are often sold and kept alive until cooked to ensure the absolute freshness of the exclusive and elite foods prepared with them.
Technically, these are ‘live fishery products’ and therefore food in their own right, according to food hygiene and safety regulations. Hence the prohibition of feeding such animals, since otherwise the distributor or restaurant would have to apply for a special permit to raise animals. (6)
Live crustaceans must therefore be maintained in appropriate aquariums, with constant temperature and oxygenation control, in strict compliance with the minimum animal welfare requirements established for this purpose by the CReNBA. (7)
This, at least, is the current orientation of Italian jurisprudence. Pending the establishment of consistent and, above all, certain rules at the European level, it is hoped. In the meantime, different guidelines have been expressed by veterinary experts on the subject. (8)
Dario Dongo and Tommaso Di Paolo
Notes
(1) On closer inspection, moreover, the precise purpose of defining the characteristics of fruit and vegetables is to define their categories, on the basis of which consumers can better understand their value for money. Thanks to objective and uniform parameters throughout Europe
(2) See homonymous document 5.11.2015 on the understanding between the Government, Regions and Autonomous Provinces of Trento and Bolzano
(3) Maltreatment of animals, penal code, article 727
(4) The National Reference Center for Animal Welfare (CRenBA), at the Zooprophylactic Institute of Lombardy and Emilia Romagna, published a special opinion in 2007. Where it is pointed out that placing animals on ice, even when wrapped in leak-proof bags, is totally inappropriate as both an anesthetic and storage method
(5) The device for electrically stunning crustaceans, the Crustastun, is not cheap either, about €3,000
(6) Pursuant to Hygiene Regulation 2, reg. EC 853/04
(7) Cf. http://www.izsler.it/izs_bs/allegati/2250/ASTICIVIVI.pdf
(8) See http://www.anmvioggi.it/in-evidenza/65074-il-benessere-animale-certificato-da-chi-e-come.html
