Whole Foods’ 365 Brand Supply Chain Now Free of Forced Monkey Labor

After 18 months, PETA won its campaign against Whole Foods—not thanks to the company but to our own investigators and negotiators. We found forced monkey labor in the supply chain for Whole Foods’ 365 brand coconut milk years ago, and while the company failed to take any action to prevent the injustice, we took charge. Our vigorous campaign against the grocery giant included three damning investigations by PETA Asia, dozens of demonstrations across the country, creative advertising campaigns, hundreds of phone calls, a heartfelt plea from singer Morrissey, and e-mails from more than 100,000 concerned consumers. While Whole Foods did nothing, PETA and the grocer’s coconut supplier, Thailand’s Merit Food Products, worked relentlessly together behind the scenes to eliminate monkey labor from the supply chain. Now, PETA is celebrating that it’s found a way to help some of these endangered and vulnerable animals, but we won’t rest until the Thai government ends the rot in its coconut industry by making monkey labor illegal.