Waitrose has pledged to end suffocation practices for farmed prawns, replacing the method with electrical stunning across its entire supply chain by the end of next year.

The change comes after animal rights campaigners expressed growing concerns over prawn welfare, including the controversial and “atrocious” practice of “eyestalk ablation” – which involves the removal of one or both of a mother prawn’s eyes to stimulate egg production – something the upmarket retailer already phased out in its supply chain, The Guardian reported.

While prawns are supposed to die from thermal shock in ice and water when slaughtered, campaigners have claimed this method can often be unsuccessful and the prawns can suffer a longer death from asphyxiation.

Waitrose’s decision to change its method comes amid increasing recognition of the sentience of prawns, with the UK government acknowledging in 2022 their capacity to experience pain, distress and harm.

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A spokesperson told the title: “Animal welfare is a top priority for Waitrose, and since 2023 we’ve been working with our suppliers to push our industry-leading standards even higher by trialling electrical prawn stunning.

“We’ve committed to rolling this out to our entire supply chain by the end of next year, and this applies to all our farmed shrimp and prawns.”

Tesco, M&S, Sainsbury’s and Ocado have also ended, or committed to end, the practice and are implementing electric stunning instead, according to the International Council for Animal Welfare. It has since urged other UK supermarkets including Morrisons, Asda, Iceland and Co-op to also make the change.

A Co-op spokesperson said: “Animal welfare is very important to us, and all our fresh and frozen prawns are ablation-free. We continue to actively work with our suppliers to ultimately abolish eyestalk ablation in our supply chain.”

Morrisons, Asda and Iceland have been contacted for comment.