PETA Revokes ‘Company of the Year’ Award After Merit Food Products Was Caught Using Monkey Labor
A devastating new PETA investigation reveals that Merit Food Products—maker of MeritO and a supplier of coconut milk to Thai Kitchen worldwide—broke its promise to stop profiting from the exploitation of monkeys. PETA previously named Merit its 2024 Company of the Year for committing to monkey labor–free sourcing, but that recognition has now been revoked.
Investigators captured footage from farms where monkeys are forced to pick coconuts and at the houses of coconut pickers, where they are chained by the neck outdoors when not working. Other implicated companies include Suree Interfoods, Thai Coco, Asiatic Agro Industry, Thai Agri (Aroy-D), Theppadungporn Coconut (Chaokoh and Ampol Food), and Erawan Food. These companies cannot be trusted to do right by the individuals trapped in their supply chains. PETA urges consumers to refuse all coconut milk from Thailand.
These monkeys are someone—individuals with families, autonomy, and a right to live free. Multiple PETA investigations have revealed that monkeys are chained, whipped, beaten, and forced to spend long hours picking coconuts. Baby macaques—abducted from their families or torn away from their mothers—are chained so tightly that they can barely move, denied any comfort, and driven to madness by endless confinement. Say “no” to all Thai coconut milk, and urge the Thai government to shut down all “monkey schools” and ban monkey labor immediately.
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A Look Back at the Explosive PETA Asia Investigations That Blew the Lid off the Thai Coconut Industry
Investigation 4:
Thai Coconut Industry ‘Schools’ Abuse Baby Monkeys
In May 2024, PETA Asia’s investigators and veterinarian Dr. Heather Rally cracked the Thai coconut industry wide open by exposing exploitative “schools” in which baby monkeys are imprisoned and forcibly trained to pick coconuts. As many as 50 baby monkeys at a single school are isolated, confined, and broken in spirit by the Thai coconut industry so that they can be forced to harvest coconuts for the rest of their lives.
Investigation 3:
PETA Asia Disproves Thai Government’s Phony ‘Monkey-Free’ Claims
Between December 2021 and July 2022, PETA Asia returned to Thailand for its most comprehensive investigation into the Thai coconut industry yet. Investigators traveled to over 140 locations throughout all of Thailand’s top coconut-producing regions and found that rampant abuse of monkeys was still going unchecked even though the Thai government had publicly claimed that monkeys were no longer being exploited in Thailand.
PETA Asia investigators captured footage that showed monkeys tethered by the neck and yanked from tree to tree. One farmer claimed that the monkeys were frequently bitten by ants and stung by hornets while climbing and that they sometimes even broke bones from falling out of trees if they were yanked back down too violently.
Investigators interviewed coconut brokers who explained that the overall lack of oversight—and the infrequent, preannounced visits to farms by the Thai government’s certification program—made it easy for farms to lie about using monkey labor without any consequences.
Following the third investigation, the Thai government began handing out phony “monkey-free” assurances to protect its international reputation instead of solving the problem by banning monkey labor. The Thai coconut industry’s abuse of monkeys was so widespread that PETA had no choice but to announce that it was impossible to guarantee that any coconut milk coming from Thailand was “monkey-free.” Thailand’s “monkey-free” certificate program was exposed as meaningless—nothing but a marketing scheme designed to hide the abuse of monkeys
Investigation 2:
PETA Asia Digs Deeper Into the Coconut Industry as the Thai Government and Chaokoh Ignore the Evidence
In 2020, PETA Asia investigators went back to the same farms they had examined during their first investigation and found that Chaokoh was still using coconuts obtained by monkey labor and that the Thai government was ignoring the cruel practice.
They dug deeper into the industry and discovered “monkey schools,” where infant monkeys who had been kidnapped from their mothers were chained up and forcibly “trained” to pick coconuts. They also learned that some “trainers” made extra money by forcing the monkeys under their control to participate in circus-style shows, entertaining paying customers by riding bicycles, shooting basketballs, and performing other confusing and demeaning tricks.
Investigation 1:
PETA Asia Discovers Monkeys Exploited on Thai Coconut Farms
In 2019, PETA Asia investigators visited Thai coconut farms for the first time and documented the shocking exploitation that these operations forced monkeys to endure. These curious animals were denied the freedom to socialize with their peers, move freely, or engage in any other natural activities. They could only pace and circle endlessly on the barren, trash-strewn patches of dirt where they were chained.
