The royal jelly in the supplements came from China. Most of the other ingredients were sourced from overseas. The royal jelly was put into capsules and packaged in New Zealand, the commission found. The products were sold under three different brands: New Zealand Health Food, Manuka South, and Kiwi Natural Health. When sentencing Health Food, Christchurch District Court Judge David Ruth said the company knew from the start that its royal jelly was from China. “To not say where it came from was at best careless and at worst done deliberately due to the advantage to be gained over the distributors who did abide by the rules,” the judge said.
Wednesday, 4 August 2021, 3:20 pm
New Zealand Health Food Company Ltd (NZHFC) has been
fined $377,000 after pleading guilty to engaging in conduct
that was liable to mislead the public about the origin of
ingredients in its royal jelly supplements.
The
combination of phrases and images used by NZHFC to market
its royal jelly products gave the impression that the
products were from New Zealand when the key ingredient came
from China.
The Commerce Commission’s investigation
showed that from December 2015 to December 2020, NZHFC made
various representations on product labelling, the
company’s websites, social media, and through other
marketing channels such as email newsletters,