The meal delivery service HelloFresh has come under fire from the People for the Ethical Treatment for Animals (PETA) after the organization accused it of using coconut milk obtained through forced monkey labor in Thailand.
PETA is now calling for a boycott of HelloFresh as it was revealed that the monkeys are chained, beaten, and forced to pick coconuts for long hours. In an investigation conducted by PETA’s Asia division, the organization cited that animal abuse was rampant in 57 coconut processing plants across Thailand, according to a statement released on Monday.
The organization sent investigators to various provinces in Thailand, which are among the top coconut producers in the country, and they found that in nine of the provinces, farms used monkey labor to pick coconuts from trees, including in two operations that supply coconut milk to Suree and Aroy-D, both which produce coconut milk for HelloFresh.
PETA attributed the abuse of monkeys to the fact that the coconut industry in Thailand uses its supply chain to hide monkey labor and asked people to boycott HelloFresh and other companies that source their coconut milk from Thailand until they start procuring their coconut milk from more ethical sources.
HelloFresh refuted the accusation made by PETA by saying that they had written confirmations from all their suppliers, assuring them that they do not obtain coconut milk from monkey labor.
The company said that it condemns the use of forced monkey labor in its supply chain, and it had taken steps to ensure that it did not get its coconut milk from suppliers who used monkey labor to obtain the product. They said that all their domestic and global suppliers had confirmed that they do not engage in monkey labor.
The statement by HelloFresh suggested that they were satisfied with the written confirmations from their suppliers, and it did not say anything about the company using third-party auditing processes to verify the written statements independently.
PETA’s investigators were shown the monkeys’ living conditions, and according to videos and photos that the organization released, the monkeys were chained on dirty floors or flooded areas and only had car tires as their shelter.
It was the third investigation that PETA conducted into Thailand’s coconut production industry. The organization said that the investigations had proven that violence against monkeys and terrible living conditions were typical in the industry.
The macaques, an endangered monkey species, are taken from their mothers while they are still babies and caged until they mature. They are trained to pick coconuts and sold off to coconut pickers. One employee revealed that the monkeys often break their bones when falling off the coconut trees or being whipped.
HelloFresh, a Berlin-based company, has a global market with operations in Australia, the US, the UK, Canada, France, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, Japan, Italy, and the Netherlands, to mention a few.
By October this year, the company had over seven million active customers, and it announced that it earned a net total of $1.9 billion in revenue in its third quarter.
For years now, PETA has urged companies to stop buying coconut milk from Thailand because of its animal abuse claims. While it is common for monkey labor to be used in Thailand, it is not practiced in other coconut-producing countries like Vietnam, where companies can source their coconut milk from.
