Friday, July 11, 2014

11/07/2014: Accusations of crustacean abuse costs business

Delaware North, a nationwide company that provides concessions for major league sports arenas, hotels, parks and airports, has stopped buying lobsters from Linda Bean’s Maine company.

Representatives of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals claim that the decision was the result of a video the organization distributed concerning “horrific abuse caught on tape at the company’s slaughterhouse.”
Delaware North Companies Vice President for Corporate Communications Wendy Watkins said Wednesday in an email response that the company is not using lobsters from the Bean company in its operations. Watkins would not comment on whether the decision to stop using the Bean products was because of the PETA video.
David Byer, the senior corporate liaison for PETA, said that PETA contacted Delaware North directly after it saw an advertisement for Linda Bean Maine Lobster promoting the sale of its lobster on a stick at the Minnesota Twins baseball park and at the TD Garden in Boston.
Delaware North responded to PETA saying it had stopped using Bean’s lobsters, Byer said.
The PETA official said that the organisation had reached out to Bean’s company to educate them about more humane ways to kill lobsters before it released the video.
“They refused to engage us in conversation,” Byer said, and the decision was made to try to convince companies not to buy her products.“I hope more companies do what Delaware North has done,” he said.
Linda Bean at Port Clyde in this 2013 file photo.
Linda Bean at Port Clyde. Photo - by C.A. Smith Photography

PETA had asked last year for animal cruelty charges to be filed against the Bean processing plant in Rockland, but District Attorney Geoffrey Rushlau said he would not prosecute because the animal cruelty law did not cover invertebrate species — animals without backbones.
In a separate matter in December, the US Food and Drug Administration found what it said were serious violations of federal seafood safety at the Bean processing plant on Merrill Drive in the Rockland industrial park. A warning letter was sent out in February.
The manager of the plant said that the violations simply involved the plant not being able to show the federal agency scientific evidence to support the company’s position that its processing method results in the food being safe. 
According to other sources Delaware North won a sustainability award from the National Restaurant Association two months ago but does not have specific seafood purchasing guidelines. Consistency across all food would seem to missing and reliance on organisations such as PETA for advice would seem to be questionable for long term supplier engagement.
Read more HERE.

 The Aquaculturists
This blog is maintained by The Aquaculturists staff and is supported by the magazine International Aquafeed which is published by Perendale Publishers Ltd.

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