New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
PETA protests new Whole Foods store
SOUTH WINDSOR — Donning prison suits and monkey masks, PETA protesters held a demonstration Wednesday outside Whole Foods' grand opening, claiming that the Thai coconut milk that the grocery chain sells is linked to animal labor.
Participants, wearing black-and-white striped prison jumpsuits and paper masks of the endangered pig-tailed macaque, dumped wheelbarrows of coconuts in front of the store. After moving to the sidewalk along Buckland Road, demonstrators held signs urging Whole Foods to stop selling Thai coconut milk and “end forced monkey labor.”
PETA Asia has claimed monkeys are exploited for the farming of coconuts in Thailand, and that Whole Foods contributes to the cycle through the sale of coconut milk originating from Thailand. PETA says that companies including Performance Food Group, Purple Carrot, and HelloFresh stopped sourcing coconut milk from Thailand after PETA Asia published its findings.
PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman said the protest was intended to draw attention to the situation and to urge Whole Foods to source its coconut milk from countries where animal labor is not used, including India, Indonesia, and the Philippines.
A representative from Whole Foods said Thursday that the company investigated the issue in 2020 but did not find animal labor in its supply chain. Whole Foods said it had no connections to a coconut milk supplier previously accused of animal abuse by PETA, and the organization did not disclose a producer or farm location for its most recent protest.
“We take this issue seriously and have previously confirmed our private label suppliers do not use animal labor in producing these products,” Whole Foods said. “We have reinvestigated this issue out of an abundance of caution and have again confirmed that coconuts from Thailand used in these products are harvested without the use of animal labor.”
South Windsor Police Sgt. Mark Cleverdon said law enforcement was on the scene when the protest began, and police asked those involved to move to the sidewalks. No arrests were made, he said.
Wendy Fernandez, an international grassroots campaigner with PETA, said Whole Foods often touts its knowledge of its supply chains, but most of that knowledge is gathered from industry members who have a vested interest in protecting their trade. Fernandez said PETA has repeatedly shown Whole Foods executives the animal abuse involved in Thai coconut farming through three separate investigations, and the company has previously banned the sale of items produced with inhumane practices like foie gras.