Still alive (Picture SWNS)

A Korean supermarket in London has shocked shoppers by selling live crabs wrapped in plastic.

The shop has been criticised for packaging the crustaceans in polystyrene and cling film with elastic bands holding their legs and claws together.

The crabs are for sale at Korea Foods in New Malden, south-west London, and spend their final days in chiller cabinets alongside fish fillets.

Shopper Cheryl Willis said: ‘It’s like keeping a cow in a really small cage until you sell it to kill and eat it. If they’re going to sell it and it’s still alive it should be in an open space.’




A staff member said: ‘Some English people might be sensitive… We try to sell the crabs fresh, that is our main concern.’

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Korea Foods supermarket, New Malden, south west London (Picture SWNS)

Environmental officers from Merton council found nothing illegal when they investigated.

The RSPCA said the Animal Welfare Act 2006 doesn’t apply to crabs, but it still opposed cruel methods of selling the creatures.