Thailand’s Merit Food Products Wins PETA Asia’s Company of the Year
In a proactive move, Merit Food Products – maker of MeritO and Native Forest coconut milk and a supplier for Whole Foods’ brand 365 by Whole Foods Market – has become the first Thai coconut milk producer to eliminate monkey labor from its supply chain after working with PETA. For its efforts to help monkeys, PETA has named Merit its 2024 Company of the Year.
Multiple PETA investigations have revealed that endangered pig-tailed macaques – who are illegally kidnapped from the wild, kept chained up, and abusively trained – are exploited as coconut-picking machines in Thailand. When PETA investigators found monkey labor during a visit to Merit Food Products’ third-party supplier farms – even though it had already been certified as “monkey-free” by the Thai government – the company promptly cut ties with the suppliers and gave the investigators access to its local partner farms to verify that it was truly free from monkey labor.
Merit Food Products also applied for a permit to import third-party coconuts from countries where monkey labor isn’t used and sent a letter to the Thai government asking for an official ban on monkey labor.
Earlier this year, runner-up Chef’s Choice Foods became the first Thai brand to confirm to PETA that it will obtain coconuts only from countries where monkey labor isn’t used rather than sourcing them from farms in Thailand.
Other Thai coconut milk producers, including Thai Coco, Chaokoh, and Aroy-D, purchase coconuts from brokers or third parties who often falsely claim that their supply is monkey labor–free.
Join the call to demand that the Thai government ban the use of monkey labor.
