Despite the name, the dark “vein” running along the back of a shrimp isn’t actually a vein. It’s the shrimp’s digestive tract. It can contain tiny amounts of sand, sediment, and whatever the shrimp recently ate, which is why many cooks prefer to remove it before serving. But seeing that dark line doesn’t automatically mean the shrimp is unsafe.
Deveining shrimp is mostly about appearance, texture, and taste, not food safety. Properly cooked shrimp can generally be eaten even when the digestive tract hasn’t been removed. In smaller shrimp, the line may be barely noticeable. In larger shrimp, however, it can contain enough gritty material to affect the texture or give an unpleasant taste, so deveining is more common.
Cooking shrimp with the shell still attached is also completely normal. In fact, many recipes deliberately cook shrimp shell-on because the shell can help protect the meat from drying out and may add flavor. The shell can simply be peeled away before eating. For young children, it’s especially important to remove the shell and tail completely and cut the shrimp into age-appropriate pieces to reduce choking risk.
The more important safety issue is making sure the shrimp is fresh, properly refrigerated, and thoroughly cooked. Cooked shrimp should become firm, opaque, and pearly rather than translucent.
So your mother-in-law didn’t necessarily do anything wrong. Deveining is usually optional—but many people still prefer it because nobody particularly wants a gritty shrimp on their dinner plate.
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