Asda has become the first international retailer to stop selling Thai coconut milk in the wake of a recent undercover investigation by animal rights organisation Peta into monkey abuse.
The exposé revealed abuse of monkeys throughout the country’s coconut supply chain. As a result, Asda’s new own-brand coconut milk range will be sourced from the Philippines instead of Thailand.
Peta has asked Asda to extend this policy to all branded Thai coconut milk products. It also urges consumers to avoid buying them in the meantime due to the rampant abuse.
The investigation found that forced monkey labour is pervasive throughout the Thai coconut-farming industry. It implicates coconut pickers, brokers, farms and monkey-training operations across nine provinces.
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The investigation caught one trainer on camera dangling a screaming monkey by the neck and striking him with a tether. Another monkey used for breeding was kept chained alone in the sun, without access to water, while others were kept in cramped cages.
Coconut pickers said that monkeys sometimes incur broken bones from falling out of – or being yanked down from – the trees, while a worker confirmed that most monkeys are kidnapped from their families in nature, despite being threatened or endangered species.
“Asda has taken compassionate action to avoid cruelly obtained coconut milk, and we urge the Thai government to take meaningful steps towards ending the cruel practice of forcing captive monkeys to harvest coconuts,” says Peta director of vegan corporate projects Dawn Carr.
“Peta is calling on retailers to stop selling any Thai coconut milk products until monkeys are no longer used and abused for profit.”
The animal welfare investigation links forced monkey labour to Chaokoh and Ampol Food Processing (whose parent company is Theppadungporn Coconut Co), Cocoburi, Tropicana Oil, Thai Pure Coconut Co, Ampawa, Edward & Sons Trading Co, and many other brands, in addition to Suree and Aroy-D.
