You can no longer boil a lobster alive in Switzerland, unless you stun it first:
The Swiss government has ordered an end to the common culinary practice of throwing lobsters into boiling water while they are still alive, ruling that they must be knocked out before they are killed.
As part of a wider overhaul of Swiss animal protection laws, Bern said that as of 1 March, "the practice of plunging live lobsters into boiling water, which is common in restaurants, is no longer permitted". Lobsters "will now have to be stunned before they are put to death," the government order read.
According to Swiss public broadcaster RTS, only electric shock or the "mechanical destruction" of the lobster's brain will be accepted methods of stunning the animals once the new rule takes affect.
Also at BBC.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Saturday January 13 2018, @05:29PM
Empathy. OK, I'm dropped into the boiling water. There is a flash of pain, then a warm fuzzy feeling, and then nothing. That's why they drop the lobster in the pot head first - his brain solidifies not-quite-instantly. Crack an egg into boiling water. Or, don't even crack it - just drop a raw egg into boiling water. The shell will almost certainly burst, and all that protein will kinda swirl out, already solidified. If we're going to empathize, you gotta really empathize.