Contrary to claims made by seafood sellers, lobsters do feel pain, and they suffer immensely when they are cut, broiled, or boiled alive. Most scientists agree that a lobster's nervous system is quite sophisticated.
Boiling lobsters alive is a way to reduce the risk of food poisoning from bacteria that live in their flesh and that quickly multiply on their carcasses, according to Science Focus. Plus they have been deemed tastier and better presented on the plate when cooked this way.
We believe that electrical stunning before killing of lobsters is the most humane and effective method as it renders them immediately insensible before death which then occurs within seconds. Plunging them into boiling water, freezing them or 'drowning' them in fresh water are not humane.
JONATHAN BIRCH: There's evidence that a lobster will carry on living for two to three minutes when it's dropped into a pan of boiling water and that the nervous system response carries on very intensely during that time, just as it would with you or me or a cat or a dog or any animal dropped into a pan of boiling water ...
Freeze the lobster for 30 to 60 minutes, then put it in the pot of boiling water head-first. While the boiling water, rather than the freezer, will kill it almost instantly, the cold will immobilize the lobster so it won't thrash about.
"If an animal feels pain, you can't just chuck it into a pot of boiling water." Boiling, microwaving, thrashing, drowning and dismembering live crustaceans has been illegal in NSW since 1997.
A sound can emit from the shells of the lobsters — a high-pitched sound — but it's due to steam escaping through a fissure in the shell, not the lobsters 'screaming,'” she explained. This doesn't necessarily mean the cooking process is pain-free for the lobster.
Lobsters lack the brain anatomy needed to feel pain, said Ayers, who builds robots modeled on lobster and sea-lamprey neurobiology. Lobsters and other crustaceans are often swallowed whole by predators, he added, so they never needed to evolve the ability to detect pain from, say, warming water or an electric shock.
Crabs, lobsters and shellfish are likely to feel pain when being cooked, according to a new study. Jan. 16, 2013, at 6:00 p.m. Some say the hiss that sounds when crustaceans hit the boiling water is a scream (it's not, they don't have vocal cords).
The law reads that no live lobster shall be tossed into a boiling pot of water. And the big kicker: since it is illegal to boil a live lobster in New Zealand, it is therefore illegal to boil a live lobster in the USA.
What to do if your lobster dies. Should they die and you've kept them cold, you can still cook them. According to State of Maine food safety experts, dead lobster can be consumed safely up to 24 hours from time of death, if refrigerated properly at or below 38°F (the temperature of the average home refrigerator).
Note the time at which the water comes to a boil again. From that point, boil the lobsters for 7 to 14 minutes or longer, depending on the size of the lobster. 7 to 10 minutes for a 1-pound lobster, 8 to 12 minutes for a 1 1/4-pound lobster, and 10 to 14 minutes for a 1 1/2-pound lobster.
Research has clearly shown that lobsters, crabs, and other crustaceans can and do experience pain. Scientists have shown that their reaction to painful stimuli is more than just a reflex response and instead, they learn from painful stimuli and change their behavior.
In most countries, they are excluded from the scope of animal welfare legislation, so nothing you do to them is illegal. The result is that they are treated in ways that would clearly be cruel if inflicted on a vertebrate.
To make sure, pick up the lobster - if the tail curls under the body, it's alive. This test is especially important with lobsters that have been stored on ice because they're so sluggish, it's sometimes hard to see movement.
Lobsters and other shellfish have harmful bacteria naturally present in their flesh. Once the lobster is dead, these bacteria can rapidly multiply and release toxins that may not be destroyed by cooking. You therefore minimise the chance of food poisoning by cooking the lobster alive.
While mammals and birds possess the prerequisite neural architecture for phenomenal consciousness, it is concluded that fish lack these essential characteristics and hence do not feel pain.
Putting cold-blooded animals like crustaceans (or insects) into a freezer or in icy water numbs them, and they don't seem to have pain receptors that react to cold (they do live at the bottom of the ocean, after all).
Boiling lobsters while they are alive is set to be made illegal in the UK following strong scientific evidence they can experience pain, distress and harm.
When astaxanthin binds with a complex of proteins in the shell called crustacyanin, the reaction give the lobsters their natural dark blue, brown or gray color. Put a lobster in a pot of scalding water, however, and the crustacyanin denatures; astaxanthin is released and reverts to its orange-red state.
The pigment responds strongly to heat, though: Once you dump a crab or a lobster in a pot of boiling water, it's body chemistry changes: The pigment—astaxanthin—gets separated from the membrane—the crustacyanin—transforming your dinner into that ruby-hued tone we know so well.
When an uncooked lobster is frozen, the meat actually expands and is tightly compressed within the shell walls. When you thaw the uncooked lobster the meat then tears and shreds as the meat shrinks and disconnects from the wall that it was once connected.
How long can a lobster live out of water? A lobster can live out of the water for a couple of days if kept in a moist and cool place.
Therefore before cooking, keep lobsters in the coldest part of your refrigerator. And to sedate or even dispatch a lobster, chill it in the freezer for 10-15 minutes.