{"id":854521,"date":"2026-08-11T19:42:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-11T19:42:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/854521\/"},"modified":"2026-08-11T19:42:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-11T19:42:09","slug":"nz-muscle-scandal-five-more-kiwi-supplement-companies-eyed-by-commerce-commission","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/854521\/","title":{"rendered":"NZ Muscle scandal: Five more Kiwi supplement companies eyed by Commerce Commission"},"content":{"rendered":"

However, it did say that allegations made against a fifth company amid the ongoing NZ Muscle probe<\/a> had already been looked at and dismissed.<\/p>\n

\"ForFor almost two decades, NZ Muscle was a fitness favourite, a roaring small Kiwi business success story. Now its founder\u2019s reputation is in tatters. Photo \/ NZ Muscle<\/p>\n

\u201cThe commission opted to take no further action … due to an unclear breach of legislation within our remit, and the conduct appearing isolated or already remedied,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n

Numerous Kiwi-owned competitors of NZ Muscle spoke to the Herald but did not want to be quoted or associated with the controversy.<\/p>\n

They told the Herald they supported any moves by government agencies to rid the industry of operators who might bring their sector into disrepute.<\/p>\n

Dual investigations into NZ Muscle were announced by the Commerce Commission and the Ministry for Primary Industries\u2019 (MPI) New Zealand Food Safety unit just days after a bombshell video \u2013 titled \u201cEXPOSING New Zealand\u2019s Biggest Supplement Brand\u201d \u2013 was released online on June 19.<\/p>\n

Broadcast on YouTube, the 40-minute video featured former workers and whistleblowers talking about some of NZ Muscle\u2019s alleged practices<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The video \u2013 which has been watched more than 335,000 times \u2013 included the explosive claims that NZ Muscle knowingly sold stock when it had passed its use-by date.<\/p>\n

\"NZNZ Muscle began its life in an Auckland garage, before becoming a trusted product by thousands of New Zealand gym-goers and other active Kiwis.<\/p>\n

It also alleged the company had relabelled cheaper foreign products as its own New Zealand-made premium product. The video showed empty stacks of tubs of a cheaper Mexican product in large bins at NZ Muscle\u2019s Auckland headquarters.<\/p>\n

Within four days of the video going live, NZ Muscle had apologised to customers and removed some products from its shelves and popular online shop. It said an internal review had found some non-compliant packaging.<\/p>\n

The Ministry for Primary Industries also ordered the recall of two of its products.<\/p>\n

On July 13, NZ Muscle founder Dion Roosenbrand announced in his own video that he would be stepping down<\/a> as the chief executive of the company he founded, and had led for two decades.<\/p>\n

In the same video, Roosenbrand also revealed his successor: the celebrity former professional boxer David Letele<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"DavidDavid Letele (left) briefly replaced Dion Roosenbrand as chief executive of NZ Muscle, then resigned.<\/p>\n

But Letele lasted in the role just a week, stepping down after a severe backlash, including his family\u2019s address being posted online and claims he had received death threats.<\/p>\n

Roosenbrand continues to handle regulatory responses to the government agencies\u2019 investigations.<\/p>\n

The Ministry for Primary Industries is looking at alleged breaches of the Food Act, while the Commerce Commission is looking into potential breaches of the Fair Trading Act.<\/p>\n

Commerce Commission investigations can take several months \u2013 and much longer if charges are laid in the High Court. Violations of the Fair Trading Act can lead to fines up to $600,000 for companies per offence and up to $200,000 for company directors or individuals.<\/p>\n

\"DaveDave Letele had a week-long stint as chief executive of embattled supplement company NZ Muscle before stepping away.<\/p>\n

New Zealand Food Safety \u2013 an internal business unit of the Ministry for Primary Industries \u2013 told the Herald the investigation relating to alleged breaches of the Food Act 2014 was now in the hands of Auckland Council.<\/p>\n

NZ Muscle\u2019s main headquarters are in Auckland.<\/p>\n

Breaches of the Food Act can lead to fines of up to $300,000 for an individual and $1.5 million for body corporates or companies.<\/p>\n

Auckland Council told the Herald it had concluded its part of the investigation and found \u201cno evidence of critical risk\u201d to food safety \u2013 a finding that is scheduled to be independently verified by independent auditor AsureQuality later this month.<\/p>\n

Auckland Council special operations manager Veronica Lee-Thompson said: \u201cShould any critical food safety risks be identified and notified to the council in its role as the registration authority, the council will take appropriate follow-up action.\u201d<\/p>\n

Neil Reid<\/a> is a Napier-based senior reporter who covers general news, features and sport. He joined the Herald in 2014 and has 34 years of newsroom experience.<\/p>\n

Sign up to The Daily H<\/a>, a free newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"However, it did say that allegations made against a fifth company amid the ongoing NZ Muscle probe had…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":854522,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[46224,37359,45,3530,49,48,5316,7966,6953,14398,297212,297211,34292,2543,84,46826,6527,114060,2170,422,395,21351,124495,9687,87188,3651,297213,297214],"class_list":["post-854521","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nutrition","tag-allegations","tag-been","tag-business","tag-by","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-commerce","tag-commission","tag-companies","tag-conduct","tag-drawn","tag-eyed","tag-five","tag-have","tag-health","tag-illegal","tag-into","tag-kiwi","tag-more","tag-muscle","tag-nutrition","tag-nz","tag-probe","tag-scandal","tag-sparked","tag-supplement","tag-toplevel","tag-unethical"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/854521","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=854521"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/854521\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/854522"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=854521"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=854521"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=854521"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}