Two of the largest food companies in Asia, Swire Coca-Cola Taiwan and Uni-President, recently announced that they are stopping all animal tests not explicitly required by law. Another important Asian company, the probiotic drinks brand Yakult Co. Ltd, will also do so as its parent company, Yakult Honsha Co., Ltd., already banned such animal experiments.
Standard Foods Group (the largest health-food company in Taiwan), Vitalon Foods Group (Taiwan’s third-largest, and Lian Hwa Foods Corp. (a major supplier to convenience store giant 7-Eleven in Taiwan), have already banned needless animal tests.
Shalin Gala, Vice President of PETA, the animal rights organization that had pressured these companies to stop experimenting with animals, said: “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.”. PETA is calling on more than a dozen of Taiwan’s other food companies, including Nestlé licensee AGV Products Corp., to follow suit. The horrible experiments these companies inflicted on innocent animals were as pointless as cruel. Since 2000, Uni-President, Asia’s largest food company, conducted or funded experiments that involved mutilating and killing nearly 1,000 animals. Mice were forced to perform a series of stress-inducing behavioral tests and were then force-fed rooibos red tea until they died. Swire conducted or commissioned a test for a green tea product in which 40 hamsters were fed a high-cholesterol diet with or without the tea, and then starved for 12 hours before killing them. Yakult Co., Ltd., conducted or funded experiments that involved mutilating and killing nearly 250 animals, force-feeding rats and mice a yoghurt drink and forcing them to inhale allergens to induce respiratory inflammation. If you want to help, the best way to stop any companies from using animals is to refuse to purchase their products and write to them telling them you will not support them until they stop torturing animals.
