UK group raps food giants for ‘shocking’ animal tests

A British advocacy group has condemned international food giants for carrying out ‘shocking’ animal tests to gain and maximize their profits.

Cruelty Free International, a London-based animal protection and advocacy group which campaigns for the abolition of animal experiments, has in its latest report exposed cruel animal tests carried out by some of the world's leading food companies: Danone, Nestlé and Yakult.

In an exposé published on the Sunday Express, the group said pet dogs, hamsters and pigs are being radiated, force-fed and subjected to tubes implanted in their organs during cruel animal testing by the world’s leading food giants to ‘identify new money-making angles on products.’ The animals were ultimately killed.

The report quoted Katy Taylor, director of science at Cruelty Free International as saying that “the public will be shocked to learn these well-known and familiar high street brands are involved in sickening experiments on animals.”

In one case, Yakult researchers working in South Korea force-fed five-week-old hairless mice with probiotic bacteria an hour before beaming them with ultraviolet light from lamps just 12.7cm away from their skin.

The excruciating procedure was repeated three times a week for 12 weeks with the dose of radiation increasing as time went on, the report added.

Animal rights campaigners are now urging the public to boycott Danone, Nestle and Yakult to stop the animal suffering.

Back in June, another Sunday report said the UK Ministry of Defense (MoD) researchers tested on 4,124 monkeys, pigs, rabbits, guinea pigs and rodents in 2014 alone.

The animals were infected with deadly diseases including Ebola and the plague in "grotesque" experiments funded by the British government, it added.

They all died during the torturous process, which can last months, while others were slaughtered at the end of tests, which sparked fury from animal rights campaigners.

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