Victory: Asia’s Largest Food Co., Coca-Cola Bottler, and Others Drop Animal Tests After PETA Appeals
For Immediate Release:
November 12, 2021
Contact:
Amanda Hays 202-483-7382
In a banner month for good science and animals used for experiments, Uni-President, Asia’s largest food company, and Swire Coca-Cola Taiwan, one of Taiwan’s leading soft drink manufactures and bottling partner for Coca-Cola, both announced—after discussions with PETA—that they’re banning all animal tests not explicitly required by law. Yakult U.S.A. also confirmed to PETA that Yakult Co., Ltd.—known for its probiotic drinks in Taiwan—is now formally included in the updated policy of its parent company, Yakult Honsha Co., Ltd., which bans such animal tests.
Uni-President conducted or funded experiments that involved mutilating and killing nearly 1,000 animals since 2000. Experimenters forced mice to perform a series of stress-inducing behavioral tests and force-fed them rooibos red tea until they died; forced them to inhale chemical vapors and dust mites to induce asthma; force-fed them a yogurt drink; injected rats with a drug to induce diabetes, force-fed them red yeast, and repeatedly starved them; and much more.
Swire conducted or commissioned a test for a green tea product in which experimenters fed at least 40 hamsters a high-cholesterol diet with or without the tea and starved them for 12 hours. The animals’ blood was repeatedly taken, and they were all ultimately killed and dissected.
Yakult Co., Ltd., conducted or funded experiments that involved mutilating and killing nearly 250 animals. Experimenters repeatedly force-fed rats a yogurt drink, repeatedly force-fed mice a yogurt drink and took their blood, and forced them to inhale allergens to induce asthma and respiratory inflammation. The animals were all ultimately killed and dissected.
“The champagne corks are popping at PETA after the news that three of Taiwan’s major food companies have nixed cruel animal tests,” says PETA Vice President Shalin Gala. “PETA thanks them for bringing us closer to a day when no animal is maimed, force-fed, or killed in attempts to make dubious human health claims for marketing foods and drinks.”
Uni-President, Swire Coca-Cola Taiwan, and Yakult Co., Ltd., join Standard Foods Group, the largest health-food company in Taiwan and licensee of PepsiCo’s Quaker Oats Company; the third-largest health-food company in Taiwan, Vitalon Foods Group; and Lian Hwa Foods Corp., well known for its snack foods and a major supplier to convenience store giant 7-Eleven in Taiwan, in banning needless animal tests. PETA is calling on more than a dozen of Taiwan’s other food companies, including Nestlé licensee AGV Products Corp., to follow suit.
PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to experiment on”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information on the group’s newsgathering and reporting, please visit PETA.org or follow PETA on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.
