The NY attorney general has found that Walmart, GNC and Target have been selling fake store brand supplements, many of which contain unlisted and potentially toxic ingredients. The New York Times reports that four major retailers including the ones listed plus Walgreen Co., have been selling dietary supplements that do not contain the ingredients claimed on the labels. Ingredients found inside the pills include common substances such as houseplants and rice instead of the advertised herbal or homeopathic medicine.
The attorney general’s office has issued a directive to the major chains found peddling fraudulent pills to explain themselves at once. An investigation into the matter was conducted during which the store brand supplements were tested in a lab. It was found that 80 percent of the pills contained zero ingredients that had been advertised on the label. Instead, says law enforcement, the pills were stuffed with fake substances that could cause serious or even deadly allergic reactions in some people.
What is more, the NY attorney general’s office has stated that Walmart, GNC, Target and Walgreen Co. were actively and intentionally misleading customers in order to sell the fake supplements. Using the store brand name on the bottles is one way the retailers have been leveraging consumer trust to get people to buy the fraudulent treatments.
Walmart and Walgreen Co. are major offenders, law enforcement officials claim. Bottles of “ginsing” at Walgreens were found to be stuffed with capsules containing garlic and rice, while other retailers such as Target and Walmart filled their pills with things like dried vegetables and horseradish. Most alarmingly, some of the pills were found to contain legumes related to peanuts, which could cause a dangerous reaction in people allergic to those substances.
Earlier this week, the retailers’ head honchos undoubtedly woke up to a bleak day as they received formal cease and desist letters from the NY attorney general. The letter accuses Walmart, GNC, Target and Walgreen Co. of apparent deceptive business practices, false advertising and fraud. It goes on to explain that most of the bottles examined contained no advertised active ingredients and some contained no plant material at all. The letter then lists a large amount of information required by the law enforcement office to be submitted immediately. That information includes a paper trail of how the ingredients were verified initially and from where they were sourced.
Walmart, Walgreen Co. and GNC responded by saying that they would comply with the directives of the attorney general, while GNC stated, “We stand by the quality, purity and potency of all ingredients listed on the labels of our private label products.” Target has not yet issued a formal comment on the matter.