Four British retailers have removed coconut products alleged to involve monkey labour in their production, after reports emerged the animals were used by some farms in Thailand to pick the fruit. The Telegraph newspaper published a report citing the probe by PETA Asia, which highlighted the use of pigtailed macaques taken from the wild in Thailand and forcibly trained in farms to scurry up trees and harvest coconuts used to make coconut milk, meat, flour, oil, and other products. According to PETA Asia, some farmers investigated were producing products that were eventually sold by Aroy-D and Chaokoh, two major Thai coconut milk producers. Tesco workers in Malaysia, Thailand abused: modern slavery report Walmart-owned Asda said it was removing Aroy-D and Chaokoh-branded products from sale while it investigated the report with its suppliers. “We expect our suppliers to uphold the highest production standards at all times and we will not tolerate any forms of animal abuse in our supply chain,” it said in a statement. A spokeswoman for Sainsbury’s said it was actively reviewing its ranges and investigating the issue. “We are also in contact with PETA UK to support our investigations,” she said. Dog meat festival opens in China but activists hope it’s for the last time Conservationist Carrie Symonds, the fiancée of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson , welcomed the move by the retailers and urged other UK stores to do the same. “Glad Waitrose, Co-op, Boots & Ocado have vowed not to sell products that use monkey labour, while Morrisons has already removed these from its stores,” Symonds said on Twitter. Tesco, Britain ’s biggest retailer, said its own-brand coconut milk and coconut water did not use monkey labour in its production and it did not sell any of the branded products identified by PETA. “We don’t tolerate these practices and would remove any product from sale that is known to have used monkey labour during its production,” a spokesman said.