DNP Arnold recall still stands, says Norway following legal threats

08-Jul-2015 - Last updated on 09-Jul-2015 at 13:37 GMT

Norway stands by prohibition of Arnold Iron Dream Concentrated Night Time Recover product following DNP investigation

The Norwegian Food Safety Authority says its recall of the product Arnold Iron Dream Concentrated Night Time Recover remains in place – despite legal threats from the companies over the DNP accusations.

“Norway has not retracted the recall notice on this product,” the authority told us yesterday.

Last week the authority urged consumers to throw away the product Arnold Iron Dream Concentrated Night Time Recover – endorsed by Arnold Schwarzenegger and manufactured by MusclePharm in the US. It said it contained the toxic fat burner DNP (2,4-dinitrophenol).

However, its only official EU importer, Prometeus, and MusclePharm have empathetically denied the claims. They say the issue was with a counterfeit product sold by the Polish-based website Musclefactory.nu. Meanwhile Musclefactory claimed the products it sold were “authentic”.

Prometeus said the recall – sparked by an investigation last month by the UK and Dutch authorities – had been cancelled and it was now “pondering” legal action against the authorities for damage to reputation.

A section manager at the authority told us: “The Norwegian Food Safety Authority made a decision prohibiting the sale of the product and to withdraw the product from the market. The notification stated that the product contains the banned substance DNP, which can be extremely dangerous to human health. The substance is not permitted in food.”

He said the authority issued the warning when it was unable to contact the “consignee in Norway”, meaning DD Nutrition in Oslo which supplied the product through the site Musclefactory.nu.

"We tried to get in touch with the company by travelling to the company address in Oslo, by phone calls and by writing a note on the web site with information about the product. We also asked them to call us back."

Prometeus, also referred to in the release, said it had not received any contact from the authority despite being implicated in the press release. Commenting on the authority’s latest statement, its CEO Lars Boers said: “Ignorance still rules.”

MusclePharm also denied the claims that it sold products containing DNP. In a statement to us it said: "At MusclePharm, we adhere to most stringent testing and quality control to ensure the content and quality of our products. There are no MusclePharm products that uses DNP and the product in question by Musclefactory is counterfeit. We are currently working with the appropriate authorities and plan on taking the appropriate legal actions against the company."

DNP has been linked to a spate of fatalities and adverse reactions, prompting the International Criminal Police Organisation (INTERPOL) to issue an ‘imminent threat’ orange warning on its “re-emergence” as an illicit weight loss and body building ingredient back in May. The industrial chemical, not fit for human consumption, speeds up the body’s metabolism to a dangerously high rate.