Frog legs are the legs of certain species of frogs, which are used as food. This is the case for France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Lousiana and the Carribean. In many places, frogs are protected, and may not be killed in large numbers.
There are a number of problems:
- Very often, the frogs are killed in cruel ways. A 2011 paper raised animal welfare concerns; the main issues were thain some cases the legs were removed, while the frog was still alive, and the ways in which the frogs are hunted. It said that origine countries should argee on humane standards for "for the capture, handling, packaging and export of live frogs" and for "killing, and processing of frogs used for food to minimize animal suffering".
- Taking many frogs from a certain place in the environment may disturb the ecological balance. In Bangladesh, people suffered from mainy mosquitoes, because many frogs had been taken form a certain area.
Today, most frogs are raised or caught in South East Asia. They are then exported to Europe and other parts of the world. In the 20th century, the trade was seasonal. Today, may are caught in rice paddies in Asia. They are aslo raised, in farms. Today, the trade is done in large numbers, year-round. India and Bangladesh used to be the main producing countries; today, most are produced in Indonesia and China. In Europe, most are sold to France
