Walmart drops coconut milk amid monkey labor allegations
Walmart is the latest retailer to stop selling Chaokoh coconut milk, following retail giants Costco, Target, Kroger and others who have pulled the product from shelves amid monkey labor allegations.
Why it matters: The nation’s largest retailer has discontinued stocking products from a Thai supplier who has been accused of using monkeys for forced labor, officials with the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) exclusively told Axios.
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Walmart is the latest retailer to stop selling Chaokoh coconut milk, following retail giants Costco, Target, Kroger and others who have pulled the product from shelves amid monkey labor allegations.
Why it matters: The nation’s largest retailer has discontinued stocking products from a Thai supplier who has been accused of using monkeys for forced labor, officials with the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) exclusively told Axios.
- Walmart confirmed to Axios that it no longer sells Chaokoh products in stores and online.
- Sam’s Club also did not list Chaokoh products for sale on its website as of late Monday.
- Since 2019, when it began investigating the alleged animal exploitation, PETA has been pushing stores to stop selling coconut milk allegedly made with coconuts harvested by monkeys.
What they’re saying: “The coconut trade uses social monkeys as chained-up coconut-picking machines, depriving them of any opportunity to eat, play, or spend time with their families,” PETA Executive vice president Tracy Reiman said in a statement.
- PETA said its supporters sent Walmart more than 86,000 emails asking it to stop selling Chaokoh products.
- "With one PETA exposé after another confirming cruelty on coconut farms, retailers are dropping Chaokoh left and right," Reiman said.
The other side: The Thailand-based maker of Chaokoh coconut milk, Theppadungporn Coconut Co. Ltd, did not respond to Axios’ request for comment.
- The company’s website has a summary of a 2020 report by Bureau Veritas Certification (Thailand) Ltd., which was contracted to conduct a “Monkey-Free Coconut Due Diligence Assessment.”
- The report notes in September 2020 it randomly picked 64 out of 817 farms for the assessment and did not find the use of monkeys for coconut harvesting.
Flashback: Walgreens, Food Lion, Giant Food and Stop & Shop were among the first U.S. retailers to stop carrying Chaokoh products after PETA's investigation.
- Costco and Wegmans pulled the products in fall 2020 and Target and Kroger in 2021.
This wokeism has gone too far, I tell you.
Next thing you know we won't be able to use the "No" word in front of these creatures.
I double dog dare you to tell my cats no
Add that to "Ride" and "Treat"
Nobody gets the Planet of the Apes reference?
It's been a while since I've seen an Apes movie
The first movie from 1968 has a scene where the apes explain their history of being liberated from slavery and of the first ape who spoke to the humans and said the one word to them they had heard over and over and over again: "no." Fast forward and earth is now an upside-down world where humans no longer even have voices and the apes are in brutal control.
Coincidentally between their world and hours there is a word begins with the letter 'n' that the formerly enslaved had heard spat at them over and over again and the apes can now say but the humans can't.
Their word was "no." Our word I cannot say without risking having my newstalkers account canceled,
It's totally not a movie about white panic starring Charlton Heston.
Thanks.
How do you get monkeys to work? I couldn't get my teenage kids to work
I guess hunting dogs should be off limits. That is forcing them to work.