Can't Buy a Lobster Because WHY?

Many of you may have heard the Whole Foods Market announced that they no longer would sell Live Lobster in their stores. They have made this decision after seven months of study to determine that the Lobster is mistreated in the trek from ocean, to ship, to shore and finally to that little tank in the store. They said it was cruel to place all these lobsters together in a tank and then have little kids (my daughter always does this) tap on the tank with their fingers. Because of this cruel punishment the chain would not longer supply live lobster in their stores.

They will however, "continue to sell frozen raw and cooked lobster products from suppliers meeting specific quality standards for humane treatment, handling and processing." This is according to Margaret Wittenberg, vice president of quality standards for Whole Foods Market.

I can tell you hear the dripping sarcasm in my fingers as I type. So Whole Foods thinks it is so wrong to throw a lobster in a bucket of salt water or on dry ice. Transport the water tank or dry ice container from Canada to ... say Charlotte, NC ... then have the lobster transferred to another tank of salt water in the store where every kid in southeast Charlotte will tap and bang on the glass. I can see the logic in these thoughts. It does seem like the LARRY (the lobster) would suffer a bit in this process. But it is OK, according to Whole Foods to KILL THE LOBSTER BY FREEZING IT TO DEATH OR BOILING IT TO DEATH! I say this because they will still sell frozen cooked or raw lobster.

Maybe I am the only one who thinks this ... but if you are willing to kill the lobster then it is quite alright to beat up on it a bit so that you can get it to a local store so I can KILL it in my own house. Anyway ... I think this is a silly statement by a Chain to protect a lobster. All this writing has given me an idea.

Remember the POT? Well I think it is time to break out the POT and get some water boiling. I think I will be cooking some LIVE Maine Lobster in the POT in a few weeks!



The news article on the lobster ban can be read here:

Yahoo News Article

To be fair I have also included the link to the news release by Whole Foods here:

Whole Foods Web Site

Have a GREAT weekend ... and do NOT forget the Dad's.

Ciao, Mark