Aldi and Lidl face growing pressure to match UK prawn welfare reforms

The International Council for Animal Welfare (ICAW) has urged German supermarkets Aldi and Lidl to meet new UK industry standards on prawn and shrimp welfare and ban eyestalk ablation (cutting off female prawns’ eyes) and death by ice-slurry. Asda is the latest UK supermarket to ban the controversial practices, following similar commitments by Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Marks & Spencer, Ocado, Waitrose, Co-op, Morrisons, and Iceland.

Asda revealed this month that it will ban eyestalk ablation by 2027 and replace ice-slurry stunning with electrical stunning by 2028. Ocado recently reported that it has already completed the transition. These moves reflect a rapid shift in UK grocery toward recognizing prawn welfare as part of responsible sourcing in the past two years.

Aldi tells Food Ingredients First that all of its shrimp suppliers have committed to ablation-free methods, while it is committed to ensuring that all the fish and seafood used in its own-label products are “responsibly sourced.” All of its farmed fish or seafood products must be certified according to third-party standards.

Lidl told us that it is the initiator of a pilot project aimed at improving welfare standards for shrimp, including the requirement that eyestalk ablation will no longer be used for the core range of farmed warm-water shrimp, and that species-appropriate and low-stress killing methods, such as electrical stunning, will be introduced. The standards developed within the pilot project were applied in January 2026.

However, ICAW says these supermarkets are falling behind UK industry standards, claiming that Aldi is yet to announce a timeline for its transition to improved shrimp welfare, while Lidl has not specified exactly what its new standards will be.

Why prawn welfare matters

Prawns are the most consumed farmed animal in the UK, with over 1.2 billion individuals sold each year, according to ICAW. Mounting scientific evidence, including research from the London School of Economics, UK, shows that prawns are sentient and capable of feeling pain.

Eyestalk ablation involves cutting one eyestalk off a breeding female prawn while alive to increase egg production. Ice slurry “stunning” involves putting prawns in ice-water baths while conscious, leaving the animals to suffocate.ICAW protestors outside the Aldi UK headquarters in January 2026 (Image credit: ICAW).

ICAW says that electrical stunning equipment is commercially available and already being implemented in UK retail supply chains, while research indicates that hatcheries can transition from eyestalk ablation without losing productivity.

Consumer purchasing decisions are increasingly influenced by animal welfare concerns. Innova Market Insights found that 30% of global consumers say they look for animal welfare claims when making F&B purchases.

According to the market researcher, there was a 4% increase in F&B launches with ethical animal welfare claims globally between October 2020 and September 2025.

“ICAW is currently running a public awareness campaign informing Aldi customers and employees about the controversial practices and the lack of progress,” Jonas Becker, head of Invertebrate Welfare Policy at the NGO, tells Food Ingredients First.

“Grassroots animal rights groups across Europe have so far taken actions in or in front of over 80 Aldi stores. Activists are placing stickers on shrimp packages in Aldi stores to inform customers, and protesting in front of stores, Aldi offices, and events where Aldi is present.”

“We are closely monitoring Lidl’s next steps and consider taking similar action.”

UK and EU crustacean welfare law

In the UK, there are currently no specific criminal offences relating to the killing of prawns or shrimps for food in the way there are for vertebrate animals, meaning they can be, for example, legally cooked alive, despite the UK government recognizing decapod crustaceans (including prawns, crabs, and lobsters) as sentient since 2022.

In the EU, prawns and shrimps are not protected by animal welfare law or officially recognized as sentient.

“Retailers have the power and responsibility to determine welfare practices within their supply chains. We may, at a later point, advocate for amending legislation at the UK and EU level,” says Becker.