Over 1.28 Lakh Consumers And PETA Urge Oreo-Manufacturer Mondelez To Ban Controversial Animal Testing Practices

Over 1.28 lakh consumers have urged snack giant Mondelez to call for a ban on animal testing after People for the Ethical Treatment of Animal (PETA) has alleged that it continues to allow animal testing under the guise of promoting basic nutritional science. PETA India has also accused the ‘Oreo’ manufacturer of force-feeding mice with faecal bacteria.

NGO Accuses Oreo-Maker of Backing Harmful Experiments on Mice Despite Partial Ban

In 2018, Chicago-based Mondelēz, known for manufacturing brands like Cadbury, Toblerone and Oreo, adopted a limited global ban on animal testing after consulting with PETA US. However PETA alleged that a loophole continues to allow animal testing under the guise of promoting basic "nutritional science". While Mondelēz claims not to test products on animals unless required by law, PETA the company of funding numerous nutritional science experiments such as force-feeding mice with human faecal bacteria, which have been shown to produce no health-relevant results for humans. 

PETA Alleges Force-Feeding of Mice With Human Fecal Bacteria in Nutritional Studies

In a letter written to Mondelez International’s executive vice president and president for Asia, Middle East and Africa Deepak Iyer, PETA India urged Mondelēz to ban all tests on animals unless explicitly required by law. The animal welfare organisation alleged that the company’s policy allows it to fund experiments like force-feeding mice with feces from obese women, human feces, chemical, glass beads and glucose followed by killing and dissecting them.

Consumers Demand Company Join ‘Eat Without Experiments’ Pledge Against Non-Essential Animal Testing

The accusations have created a huge uproar among consumers as more than 1.28 lakh people have contacted the company through online action alerts via PETA India, PETA Germany, PETA US, PETA UK, PETA France, PETA Netherlands, PETA Australia, PETA Latino, and PETA2, calling for a ban on animal testing. More than 400 food and beverage companies, including Ferrero and Unilever, have already signed up to PETA's ‘eat Without experiments’ program, pledging to refrain from non-legally required animal testing, claimed the NGO.

Dr. Anjana Aggarwal, PETA India’s scientist and research policy advisor, said, “Force-feeding mice with harmful faecal bacteria, chemicals and glass beads is completely unacceptable and should have been banned long ago, especially when these experiments have no scientific or legal basis. We call on Mondelēz to finally turn its back on animal testing and join the many companies that have joined PETA's eat without experiments program. The damage to brand reputation from continuing to conduct or fund these tests is growing by the day, and consumers worldwide no longer want to support it.”

PETA India said that common food ingredients, for which there are no toxicity concerns, should not be tested on animals. Studies such as these could be carried out safely with consenting human volunteers, which, unlike animal testing, would allow clinically relevant results to be obtained, it added.

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PETA Cites Global Shift Towards Human-Based Research

PETA India claimed that its US counterpart has sent a scientific critique highlighting the weaknesses of these animal experiments to Mondelēz. It added that India’s new Drugs and Clinical Trials (Amendment) Rules 2023 allows for the use of non-animal methods for assessing drug safety and efficacy, replacing traditional animal testing while the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) also recently announced its intention to launch “a new initiative to expand innovative, human-based science while reducing animal use in research”. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Food Directorate of Canada Health and other institutions do not accept animal testing as the sole evidence for health claims for foods, it added.

The Free Press Journal contacted Mondelez but did not receive any reply until the report was published.