Nine food stores in South Korea are facing legal action after officials discovered they were selling US health foods containing illegal ingredients.
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As an official from the Korea Food and Drug Administration explained, “the stores were found to have violated the food hygiene act by importing the controversial food illegally, making false import declarations, carrying false and exaggerated advertisements and violating distribution limits and other rules.”
A sporting goods trading company referred to only as “H” is among the nine charged with illegal importation and sales. Between May and December 2000, from its location in Mapo-gu, H is believed to have grossed 63m won from sales of Mega Mass 4000.
Numerous synthesized materials are banned from domestic sale in the country, including many commonly used by bodybuilders, and the KFDA warned, “citizens should refrain from buying any unauthorized health food products which do not have additional Korean labels, especially at Namdaemun Market.”
The KFDA is concerned that US nutrition meals and other health products are being widely circulated without Korean language advice labels, having been illegally imported by overseas travellers or US Army post exchanges, and that they could cause harm to human health if taken in excess or mixed with other foods.
On the banned ingredients list are Yohimbe Bark Extract, which is actually classified as an aphrodisiac, Creatine Monohydrate, which can result in fever and muscle cramp, and Ma Huang Extract, which contains the organ-expanding ephedrine, believed to cause heart attacks, paranoia and manic depressive insanity when mixed with caffeine.
Among others, the health products causing concern have been named as Male Fuel, produced by the US company TwinLab, Mega Mass 4000 and Turbo, manufactured by the US Weider Company, Metaform’s Metacuts and Dymetadrine Xtreme, produced by US group Evergreen.
“We will intensify our inspection on illegal foreign foods,” warned the KFDA
