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In a historic move, Thailand-based Chef’s Choice Foods has confirmed that it no longer obtains coconuts from its home country following a PETA Asia investigation revealing that monkeys are chained, whipped, beaten, and forced to spend long hours picking coconuts from trees. Chef’s Choice Foods makes the popular coconut milk brand Nature’s Charm, which is sold in more than 60 countries on six continents, including the U.S., where it’s sold at the major chains Kroger and Sam’s Club.
Even this business based in Thailand knows there’s no way to ensure that supply chains are free of monkey labor in that country, where monkeys are threatened with violence and forced to work as coconut-picking machines.
PETA applauds Chef’s Choice Foods for taking this action to ensure that monkeys aren’t abused for its coconut milk and urges other Thai coconut milk producers to follow its lead.
PETA Asia’s investigation—its third into Thailand’s forced monkey labor industry—documented that a worker struck a screaming monkey, dangled him by his neck, and whipped him with the tether. A female monkey reportedly used for breeding was kept chained alone in the sun without access to water, while other young monkeys languished in cages.
Coconut pickers said the monkeys sometimes sustain broken bones from falling out of trees or being yanked by their tethers. Workers confirmed that most of the monkeys had been abducted from their families in nature, even though the species exploited by the coconut trade are threatened or endangered.
Here’s How You Can Help Monkeys
In addition to Chef’s Choice Foods, German grocery store chain Lidl and Co-op stores in the U.K. also announced that they will no longer source coconut milk from Thailand.
You can help monkeys by urging Whole Foods to do the same:
