Crabs and lobsters are sentient animals capable of experiencing pain; boiling live, common practice in the food industry, causes significant suffering and faces growing legal and ethical challenges.
The boiling of live crabs and lobsters is one of the most widely practised forms of animal slaughter that would be unacceptable if performed on vertebrates. Evidence of pain and distress is strong: crustaceans attempt to escape boiling water, show limb autotomy as a stress response, and have neurological architecture that supports nociception. The London School of Economics review that informed the UK Sentience Act concluded there was strong evidence for sentience in decapods. Electrical stunning, which renders animals insensible in under a second, provides a practical and humane alternative that is increasingly available.