Shrimp are typically killed by icing or direct sale live, methods that may cause prolonged suffering given emerging evidence of crustacean sentience.
The welfare of farmed shrimp at slaughter has historically received almost no attention given longstanding assumptions that crustaceans cannot suffer. However, a growing body of research demonstrates that shrimp and other decapods show physiological and behavioural responses to noxious stimuli consistent with a capacity for pain. Death by icing or ice slurry is a slow process during which the animal remains physiologically active for many minutes. If shrimp do experience something like suffering during this process, the scale of harm is enormous given the billions killed globally each year. The precautionary principle supports developing and adopting more humane slaughter methods even while scientific debate continues.