A number of supermarkets have removed some coconut water and oil from their shelves after it was observed that the products were made with fruit picked by monkeys.

The monkeys were reportedly snatched from the wild and trained to pick up to 1,000 coconuts a day.

This is according to People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta) .

The animal rights group said pigtailed macaques in Thailand were treated like “coconut-picking machines”.

In response Waitrose, Ocado, Co-op and Boots have however vowed to stop selling some goods.

Meanwhile, Morrisons said it had already removed products made with monkey-picked coconuts from its shelves.

In a statement, Waitrose stressed that as part of animal welfare policy, they remain committed to never knowingly sell any products sourced from monkey labour.”

Co-op noted that as an ethical retailer, the organisation will not permit the use of monkey labour to source ingredients for its products.