NZ Muscle controversy: NZ Food Safety launch investigation as new claims emerge

Following an independent investigation that made serious allegations against the well-known supplement brand NZ Muscle, New Zealand Food Safety has confirmed it is now conducting its own investigation into claims.

New Zealand Food Safety told RNZ that officers had been speaking with complainants on Tuesday, June 23, as part of its own investigation.

“NZFS is investigating claims of breaches of the Food Act 2014 made in a recent YouTube video,” acting deputy director-general Mike Inglis told the outlet.

It appears NZFS has not clarified exactly which specific claims it is acting on.

As reported by Stuff, the company was communicating with “a government department” late on Tuesday. And as of today, the spokesperson added: “As we are now communicating with regulators, it would be inappropriate to comment further.”

Some of the allegations included in the YouTube video from Kino House Investigates include: Not disclosing expiry dates in sales, hiding legitimate negative customer reviews, making misleading ‘high protein’ claims on their product, relabelling products and unhygienic/unlicensed manufacturing and packing practices.

It’s important to note that two of the creators behind the YouTube investigation co-founded their own supplement brand, although this is not mentioned or named in any of their content relating to the controversy.

Following initial reporting from rova on Monday, July 22, a representative from NZ Muscle reached out via email to say the brand "is aware of the video”.

At the time, the statement said: “There is no regulatory investigation underway, and no regulator has contacted the company. NZ Muscle will cooperate fully with any investigation and rejects any other claims made against its products or processes.”

“NZ Muscle holds a current food registration as well as HASTA certification for the products in question,” the brand claimed, along with providing HASTA results for five products.

NZ Muscle later revealed an internal review had identified labelling and packing issues across multiple products, including its No Brand, NZ Muscle and Shotgun Creatine ranges. The company said several affected products had been removed from sale and apologised to customers.

However, following those statements, one of the creators behind the YouTube video has since contacted rova with fresh claims, alleging that the NP Level 3 food registration in question did not appear to be “active” until after NZ Muscle’s statement was shared.

“NZ Muscle’s registration was only active from some time between 5:17pm and 5:38pm,” they claimed, providing rova with timestamped screenshots appearing to show the registration appearing on the public register on the evening of July 22.

“This was just lucky timing for us as we were filming a video at the time outlining that they did not actually have the food registration, so we had screen recordings of it all,” they added.

The group also claim they had been in contact with a source “who advised that the paperwork was started/submitted on either June 18 or 19 - two days after we contacted NZ Muscle (on June 16) outlining what we would cover in the documentary and giving them the right of reply.”

They added that NZ Muscle “refused to give a statement”.

Owner Dion Roosenbrand broke his silence on the controversy today, in which he said he had “lost sight of some of the values” in place when he first founded the company in 2006.

He told Stuff that since the YouTube video’s release, he and his family have allegedly faced multiple threatening messages.

“Our friends and family are genuinely worried about what they’re watching happen,” he said.

Police confirmed to the outlet that a harassment complaint had been filed and is currently being assessed.

One of the creators of the YouTube video, Cameron Boot, has previously urged followers on social media not to direct frustrations toward people connected to the brand.

“It’s important that that’s channelled to the right places. Please do not harass NZ Muscle’s employees, social media ambassadors, or their partners,” Boot said via Instagram.

Rova has reached out to NZ Muscle following the latest allegation, but they declined to provide a comment.