[GOboobs]

http://www.healthyfoodusa.com/fda-finds-...oy-powder/

The New York State attorney general’s office conducted an investigation into store-brand supplements at four national retailers — GNC, Target, Walgreens and Wal-Mart. The investigation found that these giant retail stores sell dietary supplements that do not contain the herbs specified on their labels. Moreover, many of these supplements included potential allergens which were not identified in the ingredients list.

Normally, all these stores deserved their cease-and-desist letters which requested them to stop selling these products. These letters, first reported today by the New York Times maintained that“Contamination, substitution and falsely labeling herbal products constitute deceptive business practices and, more importantly, present considerable health risks for consumers.”

We will now explain the findings of the investigations of these products in more details below:

Products by Walmart, Spring Valley brand:

Echinacea
No echinacea or plant material was found in the supplement

Saw Palmetto
Garlic and rice were found in the product
Some samples contained small amounts of saw palmetto

Ginseng
No ginseng detected
Instead, rice, dracaena, pine, wheat/grass and citrus were found in the supplement

Gingko Biloba
No gingko Biloba found in the dietary supplement
Instead, the product included rice, dracaena, mustard, wheat and radish

St. John’s Wort
No St. John’s Wort found
Detected garlic, rice and cassava

Garlic
One sample showed small amounts of garlic
The product included rice, pine, palm, dracaena and wheat


Products By Walgreens, Finest Nutrition brand

Echinacea
No echinacea detected
They found garlic, rice and daisy

Saw Palmetto
Contained saw palmetto

Ginseng
No ginseng found
Detected garlic and rice

Gingko Biloba
No gingko Biloba detected
Rice was found in the product

St. John’s Wort
No St. John’s Wort found
Detected garlic, rice and dracaena

Garlic
No garlic found
Detected palm, dracaena, wheat and rice


Products by GNC, Herbal Plus brand:

Echinacea
No echinacea found
rice found in some samples

Saw Palmetto
One sample contained the clear presence of palmetto
Other samples contained a variety of ingredients, including rice, asparagus, and primrose

Ginseng
No ginseng found
detected rice, dracaena, pine, wheat/grass and citrus

Gingko Biloba:
No gingko Biloba found
Did detect allium (garlic), rice, spruce and asparagus

St. John’s Wort
No St. John’s Wort found
detected allium (garlic), rice and dracaena (a tropical houseplant)

Garlic
Contained garlic


Products By Target, Up & Up brand

Echinacea
Most, but not all tests detected Echinacea
One test identified rice in the content

Saw Palmetto
Most tests detected saw palmetto
Some tests found no plant DNA

Valerian Root
No valerian root found
Detected asparagus, pea family, rice, wild carrot, allium, bean, and saw palmetto

Gingko Biloba
No gingko Biloba detected
Found garlic, rice and mung/French bean

St. John’s Wort
No St. John’s Wort found
Found garlic, rice and dracaena (houseplant)

Garlic
Contained garlic
One test identified no DNA

[ellacraig]

You know I saw that too. Apparently if you join "consumerlab.com" you can see in depth results. I asked on here but nobody has joined. You can pay a monthly fee to join but it's for a year. I don't want to commit for a year even though it's a very small monthly fee and I'd likely look up what I need to and leave but I might still because at the end of the day most of us ARE supplementing and his scary if who we think it reputable might be selling us weeds in a bottle

[jannet.duff]

OMG..... maybe time for a class action lawsuit.

[tanysquirrel]

I had heard about this issue about a month or two back. It is unfortunate that we, the consumer trust a mfg to provide us with quality as well as affordibility, and do not get it.

My question, however, is this: the brand names listed, are they ' store brands' i.e. spring valley, is it owned by walmart? Or is it an independent company that sells to walmart, who in turn retails it to us.

If they are independent, then naturally we cannot blame target, gnc or walmart. Though, each would have acess to the MSDS ( material safety data sheet), this should also include ingredients of each suppliment being sold. Also, the buyers for each company usually do a tour and inspection of the facilities of the companies they buy from. ( before kmart would buy from a company i used to work for, they toured our company, inspected our paperwork, signed off on the MSDS, etc. And that was only for belts that people wear...not consumable and potentially life threatening suppliments!).

I firmly believe, the FDA should regulate the suppliment industry, because it is food, in a way. It can also. Cause damage...especially if there are potential allergens in it..

The food industry places warnings on their packaging.."may have nuts" or " processed on macinery that processes peanuts" , etc.

But hey, thats just my opinion.

[tanysquirrel]

The other thing that comes to mind is that rice shows up s lot m what are they using to test? Is it a mass spectrometer? Was it properly calibrated? Are the tests correct and factual? Or is it Pharma trying to steer us away from natural remedies that would result in billions of loss in profits to the pharmacuetical industry. I know...roll your eyes, its another conspiracy theory. I am merely just wondering all the questions out loud.

But in the interest of the general populace, all bases need to be covered. Think back a few years ago....eggs are bad for you..then a few years later, they retracted that....then by miracle, they were good again....was it the dairy industry screaming about losses, that reversed the opinion that eggs were bad?

Just something else to think about.

[GOboobs]

Here's a link to the New York Times on the study. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/05/scienc....html?_r=1

Here's a link to the actual study. http://www.biomedcentral.com/1741-7015/11/222/abstract

I think we can safely rule out the conspiracy theory.

[Alison59]

That seems to be the problem with a lot of things with large national or multi-national companies. Quality doesn't seem to matter as long as they can buy them in as cheaply as possible, keep profits up and the shareholders happy.

I always try support to buy from small companies who rely on their reputation and quality of stock to stay in business. Often their products and customer service are far better.

[GOboobs]

That seems to be the problem with a lot of things with large national or multi-national companies. Quality doesn't seem to matter as long as they can buy them in as cheaply as possible, keep profits up and the shareholders happy.

I always try support to buy from small companies who rely on their reputation and quality of stock to stay in business. Often their products and customer service are far better.

The problem in this case is that herbals are pretty much unregulated. It's an honor system if you will. They promise that what they sell is actually what they say it is. It's up to the consumers to prove if they are not.

This is something we should all be contacting our congress person about. to get the herbal market regulated like the food and drug markets.

[Alison59]

The problem in this case is that herbals are pretty much unregulated. It's an honor system if you will. They promise that what they sell is actually what they say it is. It's up to the consumers to prove if they are not.

This is something we should all be contacting our congress person about. to get the herbal market regulated like the food and drug markets.

I agree regulation will help but what you have to to be careful of is over regulation which may mean some herbal products that were once available may become unavailable.

Here in the UK and the rest of the EU herbs are regulated.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-13215010

[Dianna1395]

Why do we insist on handing our power over to others, when we KNOW they will abuse that trust? It's a question of WHEN, not IF.
Always....

-Jean