METRO AG has enhanced its animal welfare requirements for seafood sourced across its global supply chain, adding a new requirement that all fish and crustaceans used in the company’s own-brand seafood products must be humanely stunned via mechanical or electrical stunning before slaughter. The policy applies to all METRO AG stores globally, including both its METRO and MAKRO brands, which span western Europe, eastern Europe, and Asia.
The wholesale food retailer, which operates over 700 stores and depots across 21 countries and serves 17 million professional customers annually, released the updated Animal Health and Welfare Position statement on its website. The new policy improvements are expected to benefit tens of millions of fish and hundreds of millions of crustaceans annually.
The company’s recognition of animals as sentient beings in its policy statement reflects evolving scientific understanding of aquatic animal cognition and welfare. Research has increasingly documented pain perception and stress responses in fish and crustaceans, informing welfare standard development across the aquaculture and seafood industries.
“We recognize animals as sentient beings and strive to increase quality of life for animals by balancing mental and physical well-being as well as natural behavior, wherever reasonable,” METRO AG noted in its updated Animal Health and Welfare Position statement. “For own-brand products…we aim to ensure 100% humane stunning prior to slaughtering in order to minimize anxiety, pain and suffering and the distress experienced by animals…This provision also applies to all fish and crustacean products, for which only mechanical or electrical stunning are approved as stunning methods.”
The policy update also includes asking the company’s shrimp suppliers — both own-brand and branded — to avoid eyestalk ablation, a practice used in shrimp farming that has faced increasing scrutiny from animal welfare organizations.
Growing industry focus on aquatic animal welfare
The METRO AG policy aligns with growing momentum in the food industry around aquatic animal welfare standards. Currently, many fish and crustaceans in the global food supply chain are slaughtered without stunning by being cut open alive or being left to suffocate in open air or in ice slurries.
Over the past year, an increasing number of food companies have implemented policies to improve the welfare of fish and crustaceans in their supply chains. Retailers including Co-op (UK), Sainsbury’s, and Costco, along with restaurant brands such as Espresso House and Pret a Manger, have adopted new welfare standards for seafood sourcing.
The trend reflects broader developments in aquaculture certification. Earlier this year, the Aquaculture Stewardship Council launched a comprehensive farm standard that introduced enhanced animal welfare requirements as a core principle alongside environmental and social standards. Maria Filipa Castanheira, Delta and Welfare Standards Manager at ASC, told Sustainable Food Business that the welfare requirements address growing retailer and consumer demands for responsible seafood sourcing backed by scientific evidence.
“We commend METRO AG for strengthening its animal welfare standards to improve the welfare of fish and crustaceans at slaughter,” said Astrid Duque, Sustainability Program Director at Lever Foundation, the international NGO that worked with the company on its new policy. “METRO AG’s new requirement for humane stunning represents significant progress in reducing the suffering of hundreds of millions of aquatic animals annually and sets a strong benchmark for other food retailers to follow.”
The wholesale retail sector plays a significant role in seafood supply chains, serving professional customers including restaurants, hotels, and catering operations. METRO AG’s policy implementation across its global footprint creates standards that extend beyond direct retail to the foodservice sector.
