Walmart says it has stopped selling a brand of coconut milk — because the manufacturer allegedly uses forced monkey labor.
Chaokoh coconut milk has been accused by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals of keeping monkeys chained and forcing them to harvest coconuts.
PETA’s executive vice president, Tracy Reiman, said in a statement that the Thai company is treating monkeys as “chained-up coconut-picking machines.”
PETA said it conducted two undercover investigations into Chaokoh coconut milk and claims to have found “cruelty to monkeys on every farm, at every monkey-training facility, and in every coconut-picking contest that used monkey labor.”
PETA has lobbied major retailers to drop Chaokoh coconut milk while released disturbing videos of the company’s alleged treatment of the monkeys.
In addition to Walmart, Wegmans, Costco, Target, Stop&Shop and numerous other retailers have dropped Chaokoh from their shelves.
After Wegmans pulled Chaokoh from its shelves in 2020, Chaokoh’s parent company Theppadungporn Coconut Co. Ltd, told USA Today that they “do not engage the use of monkey labor in our coconut plantations.”
