Walmart ditches coconut milk brand over claim it uses forced monkey labour

PETA alleges that primates are used to pick coconuts on farms in Thailand

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Walmart has become the latest retailer to ditch Chaokoh coconut milk amid allegations it is produced using monkey labour.

The country’s largest retailer has joined the likes of Costco, Kroger, and Target, who have all stopped selling the product from a Thai supplier who has been accused of using monkeys as forced labour.

Animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals says it has been investigating the alleged animal exploitation since 2019, and claims that monkeys are used to harvest the coconuts that make the product.

“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 says that it carried out two undercover investigations that found monkeys are forced to pick coconuts all day with chains around their necks.

Chaokoh coconut milk is made by Thai firm, Theppadungporn Coconut Co. Ltd, who denied the allegations to The Independent.

“We can confirm that all our supply chain does not involve animal labour. All our coconuts are human-picked. The accusation we got is totally wrong,” they stated.

The company’s website includes a link to a 2020 independent inspection report by Bureau Veritas. It claims that the “Monkey-Free Coconut Due Diligence Assessment” audit by Veritas found that a randomly selected 64 of 817 farms did not find use of monkeys for coconut harvesting.

The Independent has reached out to Walmart for comment and the retailer confirmed it had stopped selling Chaokoh in stores and online.