NZ jelly company fined for false claims

An Auckland health company has been fined $16,000 for labelling imported royal jelly as New Zealand-made.

NZ Korea Health Limited was sentenced in Auckland District Court today after admitting nine breaches of the Fair Trading Act when a Commerce Commission investigation revealed it was making false claims about the origin and potency of its royal jelly.

A man associated with the company, Sang Rae Kim, also known as Jonathan Ken, was also fined $12,000.

The company's Green Top Royal Jelly was labelled as "New Zealand Made" and "Best of New Zealand" despite the main ingredient, powdered royal jelly, being sourced from overseas.

The jelly also featured the Buy New Zealand Made logo but was not registered with the programme.

"The misrepresentations on the labels of this product were deliberate. They would have led consumers to believe they were buying a superior New Zealand-made product, for which they may have paid more than the product was actually worth," Commerce Commission Wellington enforcement manager Greg Allan said.

"Mr Kim was responsible for the labelling of the products and knew that the claims were wrong. In making these misleading claims he and his company harmed consumers... and he also harmed competitors who labelled their products correctly," he said.

The royal jelly was also said to contain 6 per cent of the active ingredient, the acid 10HDA, but testing revealed it had just 0.47 per cent.

Mr Allan said the case was the third time the commission had investigated false country of origin and potency claims about royal jelly, and the third time it had prosecuted Mr Kim and associated companies.

Mr Kim and Tomorrow Dreamline Limited were fined a total of $35,000 in March 2005 for misrepresentations over the level of Unique Manuka Factor (UMF) in its own branded honey.

"Traders who deliberately target the tourist market with false and misleading claims not only harm the consumers who buy the products, and competing businesses who can honestly make those claims, but also New Zealand as a tourist destination," Mr Allan said.

- NZPA