METRO AG has introduced sweeping new animal-welfare requirements for its worldwide seafood supply chain, mandating humane stunning for all fish and crustaceans used in its own-brand products across 21 countries.
The wholesale giant — which operates more than 700 METRO and MAKRO stores and serves around 17 million professional customers annually — has updated its Animal Health and Welfare Position statement to require mechanical or electrical stunning prior to slaughter. The move marks one of the most comprehensive seafood-welfare commitments yet made by a multinational food retailer.
The policy, published on METRO’s website, states that the company “aims to ensure 100% humane stunning prior to slaughtering… to minimise anxiety, pain and suffering” in all aquatic animals used for own-brand seafood. It applies globally across METRO AG’s European and Asian operations and is expected to benefit tens of millions of fish and hundreds of millions of crustaceans each year.
METRO has also asked all shrimp suppliers — including those providing branded products — to avoid the practice of eyestalk ablation, signalling a wider push to raise welfare standards across aquaculture and wild-capture supply chains.
The reform has been welcomed by Lever Foundation, the international NGO that worked with METRO on the policy update.
“We commend METRO AG for strengthening its animal-welfare standards to improve the welfare of fish and crustaceans at slaughter,” said Astrid Duque, Sustainability Programme Director at Lever Foundation. “The new requirement for humane stunning represents significant progress and sets a strong benchmark for other food retailers to follow.”
The retail sector has seen growing momentum around aquatic-animal welfare, with METRO joining companies including Costco, Sainsbury’s, Co-op (UK), Pret a Manger and Espresso House in adopting humane slaughter or broader welfare measures for aquatic species.
The changes come as awareness grows of industry-standard slaughter methods — such as air suffocation, ice-slurry immersion or cutting animals while conscious — which campaigners argue cause avoidable suffering and fall behind welfare norms for terrestrial livestock.
Lever Foundation noted that the new commitments are likely to influence seafood sourcing practices far beyond METRO’s own-brand ranges, given the scale of the group’s procurement network.
METRO AG’s updated policy forms part of its broader sustainability programme, which recognises animals as sentient beings and commits to improving welfare “wherever reasonable” across its value chain.
