{"id":572022,"date":"2026-08-17T20:18:12","date_gmt":"2026-08-17T20:18:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/572022\/"},"modified":"2026-08-17T20:18:12","modified_gmt":"2026-08-17T20:18:12","slug":"supplement-scandal-new-claims-of-dodgy-reviews-expiry-dates-and-labels-ripple-through-industry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/572022\/","title":{"rendered":"Supplement scandal: New claims of dodgy reviews, expiry dates and labels ripple through industry"},"content":{"rendered":"

It also confirmed to the Herald last week that since that high-profile probe was launched it had received concerns about five more companies<\/a>; one of which had already been looked at and dismissed.<\/p>\n

The Herald can now reveal the nature of the other four complaints.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the concerns took issue with reviews on a certain product allegedly failing to disclose the product had been gifted,\u201d a Commerce Commission spokesperson told the Herald in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnother concern related to an allegation that country of origin labelling was inaccurate.<\/p>\n

\"NZNZ Muscle was founded by Dion Roosenbrand (right) and once had a reputation as being a leader in the Kiwi supplement industry. Herald composite image<\/p>\n

\u201cA third concern related to someone being charged for an order that never arrived, with attempted follow-ups unsuccessful.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnother alleges the relabelling of products with a new expiry date.\u201d<\/p>\n

The spokesperson said the concerns would all be assessed by the commission. <\/p>\n

If full investigations are commissioned, they\u2019ll be carried out by specialist commission investigators with input from internal lawyers. Such investigations can take up to a year.<\/p>\n

If the allegations are proven, they will be considered breaches of the Fair Trading Act.<\/p>\n

The fifth consumer complaint alleged inaccurate pricing and the commission opted to take no further action \u201cdue to an unclear breach of legislation within our remit, and the conduct appearing isolated or already remedied\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe sports supplement industry is growing fast domestically and globally, Photo \/ 123rf<\/p>\n

The commission has so far not released to the Herald the names of the four companies it will be assessing complaints against.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe presence of a concern is not proof that a company has done anything wrong,\u201d the commission spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery concern is assessed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Under the Fair Trading Act, failing to declare you have received a product as a gift, or free, then writing a positive promotional review is considered misleading conduct.<\/p>\n

If prosecuted, individuals can face fines up to $200,000 per breach and companies can face fines up to $600,000.<\/p>\n

Under the same legislation, companies can face fines up to $600,000 per breach if the stated country of origin is false or misleading.<\/p>\n

Under the Food Act, inaccurate best-before dates can attract fines up to $500,000.<\/p>\n

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

The spokesperson said the commission considers enforcement criteria and enforcement priorities when deciding whether to take further action.<\/p>\n

Enforcement criteria include the seriousness of conduct, public interest and the \u201cextent of detriment\u201d.<\/p>\n

The problem of fake reviews is part of one of the commission\u2019s enforcement priorities for 2026: online sales conduct.<\/p>\n

Dual investigations into NZ Muscle<\/a> were announced by the commission and the Ministry for Primary Industries\u2019 (MPI) New Zealand Food Safety unit days after a video, titled \u201cEXPOSING New Zealand\u2019s Biggest Supplement Brand\u201d, 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, which has been watched more than 335,000 times, included claims that NZ Muscle knowingly sold stock when it had passed its use-by date.<\/p>\n

It also alleged the company had relabelled cheaper foreign products<\/a> 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 online shop. It said an internal review had found some non-compliant packaging.<\/p>\n

\"SeveralSeveral NZ Muscle products have been recalled and the embattled company faces two Government agency probes.<\/p>\n

MPI has also ordered the recall of two of the company\u2019s 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

Roosenbrand continues to handle regulatory responses to the commission investigation. He has been approached by the Herald for comment. <\/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":"It also confirmed to the Herald last week that since that high-profile probe was launched it had received…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":572023,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[1443,74,95,2562,8556,10709,124,51503,17896,88834,50673,29390,8987,134,2454,194,6922,130,12942,117,111,139,556,69,1118,763,117322,9644,281922,24562,2846,210],"class_list":["post-572022","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nutrition","tag-about","tag-after","tag-and","tag-claims","tag-companies","tag-concerns","tag-could","tag-crippling","tag-dates","tag-detailed","tag-dodgy","tag-expiry","tag-fines","tag-health","tag-industry","tag-kiwi","tag-labels","tag-more","tag-muscle","tag-new","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nutrition","tag-nz","tag-of","tag-reviews","tag-ripple","tag-scandal","tag-substantiated","tag-supplement","tag-them","tag-through"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/572022","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=572022"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/572022\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/572023"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=572022"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=572022"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=572022"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}